CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 17Indoor Air Quality and Microbial ExposureOccupational exposure and asthmaPsychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments

Health-related quality among life of employees with persistent nonspecific indoor-air-associated health complaints

Open access
Selinheimo, Sanna, Vuokko, Aki, Hublin, Christer, Järnefelt, Heli, Karvala, Kirsi, Sainio, Markku, Suojalehto, Hille, Suvisaari, Jaana +1 more·2019·Journal of Psychosomatic Research
DOI 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2019.03.181
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Objective Nonspecific health complaints associated with indoor air are common in work environments. In some individuals, symptoms become persistent without an adequate explanation. The aim was to study factors that associate with the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of employees with persistent, nonspecific indoor-air-related symptomatology.Methods We present baseline results of a randomized controlled trial of interventions targeted on the HRQoL of the employees with indoor-air-associated nonspecific symptoms. The main participant-inclusion criterion was the presence of persistent indoor-air-related multiorgan symptoms with no known pathophysiological or environment-related explanation. As a comparison for participants´ HRQoL (n = 52) we used data from the general-population Health 2011 study (BRIF8901) including information on subjects matched to the participants´ working status and age and subjects with asthma, anxiety or depressive disorder, or other chronic conditions with work disability.Results The participants showed greater and a clinically significant impairment of HRQoL [M = 0.83, SE = 0.013] than individuals from the general population [M = 0.95, SE = 0.001, p < .001, Hedges´ g = 2.33] and those with asthma [M = 0.93, SE = 0.005, p < .001, Hedges´ g = 1.46], anxiety and depressive disorder [M = 0.89, SE = 0.006, p < .001, Hedges´ g = 0.73], or a chronic condition with work disability [M = 0.91, SE = 0.003, p < .001, Hedges´ g = 1.11]. Prevalent symptoms of depression, anxiety, and insomnia and poor recovery from work were associated with a poor HRQoL.Conclusions Individuals with nonspecific indoor-air-associated symptoms have a poorer HRQoL than individuals in the general population with a globally burdensome disease. Psychological distress associated with a poor HRQoL should be considered in the making of decisions about the treatment of these patients.Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02069002.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2019.03.181

Cites

82 of 82 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

3 of the 85 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Selinheimo, S., Vuokko, A., Hublin, C., Järnefelt, H., Karvala, K., Sainio, M., Suojalehto, H., Suvisaari, J., & Paunio, T.
Affiliations
  • University of Helsinki (FI)
  • Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FI)
  • Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (FI)
Corresponding author
  • Selinheimo, Sanna
  • Paunio, Tiina
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Psychosomatic Research
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2019-07
Volume
122
Pages
112-120
ISSN
0022-3999 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jpsychores.2019.03.181
OpenAlex
W2926998787
Cited by
17
References
85
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1
FWCI
0.43
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Psychosomatic Research (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Työväentutkimus Vuosikirja (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • STM:n Hallinnonalan avoin julkaisuarkisto (Julkari) (submittedVersion)
  • WOS
Funders
  • Finnish Work Environment Fund (113076)
  • Social Insurance Institution of Finland (23/26/2014)
  • Research Foundation for Pulmonary Diseases
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Occupational exposure and asthma
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
Keywords
health-related quality of life, non-specific symptoms, indoor air quality, occupational health, workers, persistent symptoms, psychological distress, depression, anxiety, insomnia, work recovery, asthma, chronic disease, work disability
MeSH terms
Adult, Employment, Female, Humans, Male, Quality of Life, Research Design, Air Pollution, Indoor

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review