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Few studies were conducted for associations of home environment with childhood health by on-site inspection in China. During 2013–2014, we conducted a case-control study with home inspection among 454 children (186 asthma children and 268 non-asthma children) in Shanghai, China. In this paper, we detailedly described the inspected methods and analyzed the preliminarily collected data. Except in winter, most residences meet the national standard for indoor temperature and relative humidity. Most living rooms had ≤1000 ppm CO 2 , whereas over half of the child's bedrooms had slightly >1000 ppm CO 2 during night. Most residences had notably lower than 2500 cfu/m 3 airborne culturable fungi and ≤100 μg/m 3 formaldehyde. More than 70% of the child's bedrooms had ≤75 μg/m 3 PM 2.5 and ≤150 μg/m 3 PM 10 . Indoor and outdoor concentrations of particulate matters had strong linear correlations ( r =0.891–0.922; p -value <0.001). Most differences between cases and controls were not significant with respect to CO 2 , culturable fungi, formaldehyde, and particulate matters. Before and after adjusted for potential confounders, indoor averaged concentration of CO 2 and particulate matters generally had negative associations with childhood history of doctor-diagnosed asthma in spring, summer, and autumn. Only in winter, indoor CO 2 concentration was significantly associated with the increased odds of childhood asthma. Our results indicated that air quality among most residences in Shanghai could meet the national standard for indoor air quality in warm seasons; but household air quality and ventilation status in winter should be greatly improved. We suspected that those “unexpected” negative associations could exist due to changes in lifestyle behaviors regarding indoor air quality after the child being diagnosed asthma by a doctor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sleep is essential for the health of elderly people, but few studies have made connection between their sleep quality and their bedroom environment. This study performed field measurements in Shanghai, China, to investigate the bedroom thermal environment and ventilation and their associations with the sleep quality of elderly subjects in summer. Forty-five elderly subjects participated in this study for six consecutive days. Their bedroom air temperature, relative humidity and CO 2 concentration were measured continuously and their sleep quality was objectively measured using a wrist-worn sleep tracker. Wrist skin temperature was measured continuously at night. Each morning after waking up the subjects assessed their sleep quality, recalled their thermal sensation, and recorded their bed covering, sleepwear and cooling/ventilation arrangements during that night. The results show that higher air temperature and CO 2 concentration were both negatively correlated with objective sleep quality. Air temperature was the key factor influencing objective sleep quality. When air temperature increased by 1 °C, sleep efficiency (SE) decreased by 0.7%, duration of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep decreased by 2.1min, and time awake increased by 2.3min. The sleep quality of elderly subjects was more negatively affected by heat exposure than has been previously reported for younger subjects. As CO 2 concentration increased by 100 ppm, the Total Sleep Time (TST) decreased by 11min. The combined effects of air temperature, relative humidity and CO 2 concentration were analyzed: TST and duration of REM sleep were reduced at higher air temperature, relative humidity and CO 2 concentration. [Display omitted] • The elderly subjects preferred to open doors/windows at night in summer. • Their sleep quality decreased with increased air temperature and CO 2 concentration. • Thermal environment and CO 2 concentration interactively affected sleep quality. • Wrist skin temperature could be a good marker of thermal sensation and sleep quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]