DALY indicator as an assessment tool for indoor air quality impact on human health

Bialystok University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering, Department of Heat Engineering, Wiejska 45E, 15-351 Białystok, Poland

^* Corresponding author: m.wysocka@doktoranci.pb.edu.pl

Abstract

The quality of indoor environment is an extremely important issue, because people spend large parts of the day inside buildings. The quality of the indoor environment is largely dependent on the quality of indoor air. The parameters of the air we breathe affect our health and comfort of room use. Currently, when energy efficiency is a priority, it is difficult to maintain comfort and conditions appropriate for human health. The artificial environment in a room and related inadequate air quality cause many diseases, such as asthma, lung diseases, cardiovascular diseases, as well as poor well-being and reduced productivity. The Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) indicator means “loss of life corrected by disability” and is widely used by the World Health Organization to measure a disease burden on the population and identify the causes of a disease. The aim of the article is to present the structure of the DALY indicator and its suitability to assess the impact of indoor air quality on human health. The most frequent diseases caused by low quality of internal air were analysed based on statistical data. In addition, the possibilities of ventilation solutions have been presented, leading to the improvement of air quality in indoor environment.