Cette étude, récemment rapportée par le site français d'information www.journaldelenvironnement.net, tend donc à prouver qu'il existerait bien un lien entre les émissions dues aux photocopieurs et aux imprimantes et le risque de développer un syndrome du bâtiment malsain pour travailleurs situés des bureaux avec un environnement informatique.

Ces rejets favoriseraient ainsi l’apparition de difficultés et d’infections respiratoires et de tout un panel de troubles et pathologies largement décrits dans la littérature scientifique et médicale sur ce fameux syndrome des bâtiments malsains, que certains rapprochent également de l'hypersensibilité chimique multiple.

Ce sont des équipes de chercheurs britanniques et finlandais qui aboutissent à ces conclusions, à partir notamment de l'étude d'une population de 1.016 Finlandais, dont 342 sont des employés administratif.

Les scientifiques concluent leurs travaux sur l’importance qu'il y a à réduire l’exposition aux émissions des imprimantes et photocopieurs mais aussi des papiers autocopiants, associés à des irritations des yeux et des symptômes respiratoires.

Ces travaux semblent venir confirmer d'autres recherches et observations sur les liens entre santé et informatique, notamment ceux rapportés par la suédoise Gunni Nordstrom dans son ouvrage "Menaces Invisibles ! - Maladies provoquées par les champs électromagnétiques et les produits chimiques" (Collection Resurgence - Médecine et Sciences - Marco Pietteur Editeur - 2005) .

Les caractéristiques et le résumé de l'étude

# SOURCE

  • Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2007;64:178-184; doi:10.1136/oem.2005.024596
  • © 2007 by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
  • http://oem.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/64/3/178


# AUTEURS

  • ORIGINAL ARTICLE
  • Office work exposures and respiratory and sick building syndrome symptoms
  • Maritta S Jaakkola1,2, Liyan Yang1, Antonia Ieromnimon1 and Jouni J K Jaakkola1,3
    • 1 Institute of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
    • 2 Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland
    • 3 Respiratory Epidemiology Unit, Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland


# RESUME

Correspondence to: Dr M S Jaakkola - Institute of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT UK; M.Jaakkola@bham.ac.uk

Objectives: To assess the relation between exposure to carbonless copy paper (CCP), paper dust, and fumes from photocopiers and printers (FPP), and the occurrence of sick building syndrome (SBS)-related symptoms, chronic respiratory symptoms and respiratory infections.

Methods: A population-based cross-sectional study with a random sample of 1016 adults, 21–63 years old, living in Pirkanmaa District in South Finland was conducted. This study focused on 342 office workers classified as professionals, clerks or administrative personnel according to their current occupation by the International Standard Classification of Occupations-88. They answered a questionnaire about personal information, health, smoking, occupation, and exposures in the work environment and at home.

Results: In logistic regression analyses adjusting for age, sex and a set of other confounders, all three exposures were related to a significantly increased risk of general symptoms (headache and fatigue). Exposure to paper dust and to FPP was associated with upper respiratory and skin symptoms, breathlessness, tonsillitis and middle ear infections. Exposure to CCP increased the risk of eye symptoms, chronic bronchitis and breathlessness. It was also associated with increased occurrence of sinus and middle ear infections and diarrhoea. A dose–response relations was observed between the number of exposures and occurrence of headache. The risk of tonsillitis and sinus infections also increased with increasing number of exposures. All chronic respiratory symptoms, apart from cough, were increased in the highest exposure category (including all three exposures).

Conclusions: This study provides new evidence that exposure to paper dust and to FPP is related to the risk of SBS symptoms, breathlessness and upper respiratory infections. It strengthens the evidence that exposure to CCP increases the risk of eye symptoms, general symptoms, chronic respiratory symptoms and some respiratory infections. Reduction of these exposures could improve the health of office workers.

Abbreviations: CCP, carbonless copy paper; ETS, environmental tobacco smoke; FPP, fumes from photocopiers and printers; SBS, Sick Building Syndrome