The Impact of School Building Conditions on Student Absenteeism in Upstate New York

We investigated Upstate New York school building conditions and examined the associations between school absenteeism and building condition problems. We merged data from the 2005 Building Condition Survey of Upstate New York schools with 2005 New York State Education Department student absenteeism d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of public health (1971) 2010-09, Vol.100 (9), p.1679-1686
Main Authors: SIMONS, Elinor, HWANG, Syni-An, FITZGERALD, Edward F, KIELB, Christine, SHAO LIN
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Absenteeism
Air conditioning
Air filters
Air pollution
Animals
Asthma
Biological and medical sciences
Cockroaches
Datasets
Education
Environmental conditions
Facility Design and Construction
Fungi
General aspects
Humans
Humidity
HVAC
Indoor air quality
Learning
Logistic Models
Medical sciences
Miscellaneous
New York
Occupational medicine
Outdoor air quality
Plumbing
Population density
Public health
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Regression analysis
Research and Practice
Rodentia
School districts
Schools
Secondary school students
Socioeconomic factors
Students
Studies
Ventilation
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Summary:We investigated Upstate New York school building conditions and examined the associations between school absenteeism and building condition problems. We merged data from the 2005 Building Condition Survey of Upstate New York schools with 2005 New York State Education Department student absenteeism data at the individual school level and evaluated associations between building conditions and absenteeism at or above the 90th percentile. After adjustment for confounders, student absenteeism was associated with visible mold (odds ratio [OR]=2.22; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.34, 3.68), humidity (OR=3.07; 95% CI=1.37, 6.89), poor ventilation (OR=3.10; 95% CI=1.79, 5.37), vermin (OR=2.23; 95% CI=1.32, 3.76), 6 or more individual building condition problems (OR=2.97; 95% CI=1.84, 4.79), and building system or structural problems related to these conditions. Schools in lower socioeconomic districts and schools attended by younger students showed the strongest associations between poor building conditions and absenteeism. We found associations between student absenteeism and adverse school building conditions. Future studies should confirm these findings and prioritize strategies for school condition improvements.
ISSN:0090-0036
1541-0048
DOI:10.2105/AJPH.2009.165324