September 8, 2006—According to a national survey, these represent some of the areas of concern voiced by parents of school-aged children that can result from poor indoor air quality (IAQ) in schools.
Conducted by Opinion Research Corporation on behalf of Kimberly-Clark Filtration Products, the survey revealed that half of the 476 parents polled were concerned about the quality of the air children breathed while at school. In fact, eight out of 10 said they believed a school’s poor IAQ can have a direct negative effect on a student’s academic performance and health.
Slightly more than half reported that their child repeatedly complained about or repeatedly suffered from health problems during or immediately after a day at school. Allergies, runny nose, and coughing were the most often-reported health problems.
“The IAQ industry is closely watching issues relating to both absenteeism and ‘presenteeism,’ which is when people come to work or school while sick,” explains Dave Matela, Kimberly-Clark Filtration Products. “Presenteeism not only affects productivity in the workforce, it may also affect a child’s ability to learn or concentrate while in school, as our survey suggests.”
The national telephone survey polled 476 parents or legal guardians of school-age children from May 4-8, 2006. The margin of error is +/- 5 percentage points.
Kimberly-Clark Corporation, a recognized world leader in nonwoven technology, manufactures a wide variety of air and liquid filtration media with patented and proprietary technologies. For more information, see the Web site.
