THE ROLE OF VENTILATION AND HVAC SYSTEMS FOR HUMAN HEALTH IN NONINDUSTRIAL INDOOR ENVIRONMENTS. A SUPPLEMENTARY REVIEW BY EUROVEN GROUP P Wargocki 1* , J Sundell 1 , W Bischof 2 , G Brundrett 3 , PO Fanger 1 , F Gyntelberg 4 , SO Hanssen 5 , P Harrison 6 , A Pickering 7 , O Seppänen 8 and P Wouters 9 1 International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy, Technical University of Denmark 2 Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany 3 United Kingdom 4 Bispebjerg Hospital, Denmark 5 Norwegian University of Science and Technology 6 MRC Institute for Environment and Health, United Kingdom 7 Wythenshawe Hospital, United Kingdom 8 Helsinki University of Technology, Finland 9 Belgian Building Research Institute, Belgium ABSTRACT A continuation of the earlier work of the multidisciplinary group of European scientists, EUROVEN, is presented. The group has previously concluded that increased ventilation rates in indoor nonindustrial environments are strongly associated with improved comfort and health and may be associated with increased productivity, and that air-conditioning systems may increase the risk of sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms. Taking these findings into account, the group has elaborated 35 hypotheses on the role of ventilation and HVAC systems in non industrial indoor environments with regard to human health; 108 peer-reviewed papers have been reviewed among which 74 supported or refuted the hypotheses. The group concluded that increasing outdoor air supply rates is necessary for dilution/removal of pollutants generated indoors (including allergens), and that improper design, functioning and maintenance of ventilation and air-conditioning systems, as well their intermittent operation, may be potential reasons for health problems of people staying indoors. INDEX TERMS HVAC; Offices; Residences; Ventilation; Review; EUROVEN INTRODUCTION To create a multidisciplinary forum for an adequate communication of scientific results between different disciplines, the European Multidisciplinary Scientific Network on indoor Environment and Health concerning associations between ventilation and health, EUROVEN, was established in the year 2000 by scientists with expertise in medicine, epidemiology, toxicology and engineering. They reviewed the peer-reviewed scientific literature concerning ventilation and health in nonindustrial indoor environments and following the plenary discussions, used the results of the review to formulate a consensus statement. As a result of the work in the year 2000, the group concluded that ventilation is strongly associated with comfort (perceived air quality) and health (Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) symptoms, inflammation, infections, asthma, allergy, short-term sick leave), and that an association between ventilation and productivity (performance of office work) is indicated (Wargocki et al., 2002). Additionally, the group concluded that increasing outdoor air supply rates in * Contact author email: pw@mek.dtu.dk Proceedings: Indoor Air 2002 33