Asthma-Related Health Effects

The presence of dampness and mold increases the risk of asthma and related adverse respiratory health effects in homes by 30-50 percent. The evidence in schools and offices point to similar conclusions.^{38, 17}

School air quality has a major impact on asthma and other respiratory illnesses. Airborne allergens or irritants frequently trigger asthma attacks, yet environmental assessments demonstrate that schools often harbor allergen levels at or close to the thresholds that trigger attacks.¹

Effective school IAQ management programs can significantly reduce the presence of airborne allergens thus minimizing the environmental risks facing children with asthma.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, asthma is a leading cause of school absenteeism. Additionally, students with uncontrolled asthma generally perform worse on standardized tests. In schools with strong school asthma programs, students with asthma attend school as regularly as those without asthma. This relationship suggests that school asthma programs can have a significant impact on attendance and performance when they focus on students whose asthma is the most poorly controlled.⁸⁰ In addition, since a relatively small number of children with the highest absentee rates can skew the overall attendance rate, focusing on children with the most serious asthma could raise average daily attendance (ADA) rates.

Many effective school IAQ management programs are implemented in conjunction with health programs. School health programs coordinate:

• Physical education
• Nutrition
• Counseling
• and other health services

under a single broad umbrella. Coordination and integration of different health-related programs increases academic performance. Multi-component school health programs lead to higher student achievement scores, reduced dropout rates and higher graduation rates.^{68, 74}

• Read about some of the evidence from scientific literature.

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