Pollution of the medical air at a university hospital in the metropolitan Tokyo area.

STUDY

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the quality of medical air in a hospital in the metropolitan area.

DESIGN

Prospective study.

SETTING

University hospital in the metropolitan Tokyo area.

INTERVENTIONS: Medical air introduced into a bio-clean operating room was sampled.

MEASUREMENTS: The concentrations of nitric monoxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)), sulfur dioxide (SO(2)), and carbon monoxide (CO) in the medical air were measured every 30 minutes for 15 days.

MAIN

RESULTS

The concentrations (mean +/- SD) of NO, NO(2), SO(2), and CO were 34.4 +/- 35.0 ppb (range 0-200 ppb), 7.7 +/- 5.5 ppb (0-29 ppb), 33.8 +/- 2.9 ppb (21-46 ppb), and 1.65 +/- 0.87 ppm (0.5-7.5 ppm), respectively. The concentrations of these gases peaked at rush hours within a day.

CONCLUSIONS

In the metropolitan area, we occasionally provide our patients with medical air of poor quality.