Premium
Indoor Air Quality and Health: Reproducibility of Respiratory Symptoms and Reported Home Dampness and Molds using a Self‐Administered Questionnaire
Author(s) -
Dales Robert E.,
Schweitzer Irwin,
Bartlett Sheryl,
Raizenne Mark,
Burnett Richard
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
indoor air
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.387
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1600-0668
pISSN - 0905-6947
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0668.1994.t01-3-00002.x
Subject(s) - asthma , medicine , reproducibility , respiratory system , environmental health , mathematics , statistics
To test the reproducibility of a questionnaire previously used to study the association between respiratory symptoms and home dampness/mold, it was sent to the parents of 1,596 children twice, with an interval of one month between distributions. A total of 770 respondents completed the questionnaire both times and were entered into an analysis. For exposure variables, percentages of agreement between the two administrations ranged from 87% for visible mold growth in the home to 95% for basement flooding. Respective kappa scores ranged from 73% to 82%. Percentage agreements for the adults' symptoms variables ranged from 80% for upper respiratory symptoms, to 99% for physician‐diagnosed asthma. Percentage agreements for children's symptoms ranged from 81% for upper respiratory symptoms to 97% for current asthma. For all symptoms kappas ranged from 59% to 90% indicating moderate to high reproducibility. Future research should now concentrate on validating the questionnaire as an indicator of mold growth.