Indoor air quality in residential buildings and its influence in respiratory pathologies patients

Abstract

The most people spend about 80 % of their time inside buildings, in their own houses, work centres, public sites, shopping or entertainment centres. This percentage is probably higher in old people or patients with serious respiratory pathologies, that oblige them to stay the most of their time in their own houses. The interior air quality in residential buildings is important for everyone, but It's more significance for risk groups with respiratory pathologies as asthma, chronic bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (EPOC) or lung cancer, as study Carazo Fernández L, et al. One of the factors or parameters that better asses the interior air quality is the CO2 levels, levels above 1000 ppm are considered unhealthy or not recommendable, levels that could produce in sane people headache, drowsiness and dizziness, as it is indicated in the Guía Técnica para lugares de trabajo del INSST and in the regulation UNE 100-011-91. This work will try to determinate the most habitual levels of CO2 in houses and its possibly influence in respiratory pathologies patients, studying the ventilation flow in residential buildings, in function of their construction age and different mandatory regulations.