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Published in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health 6/2008

01-05-2008 | Short Communication

Structural equation analysis of the causal relationship between health and perceived indoor environment

Authors: Charlotte Brauer, Esben Budtz-Jørgensen, Sigurd Mikkelsen

Published in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health | Issue 6/2008

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Abstract

Objectives

To explore the temporal relationship and reversed effects between health and perception of the indoor environment using structural equation models.

Methods

The study was a two-phase prospective questionnaire study with a cross-lagged design. Altogether 1,740 adults participated on both occasions.

Results

The perceived indoor environment had only weak effects on health at follow-up. However, the results strongly indicated a reversed effect that health problems may lead to increased complaints about the indoor environment.

Conclusions

Structural equation models are powerful analytical tools for disentangling the effects of a specific variable on another in high dimensional data with complex patterns of associations. The analyses confirmed the results of our previous logistic regression analysis about the strong reversed effect. Hence, it is probable that a reversed effect between health and complaints about the indoor environment exists.
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Metadata
Title
Structural equation analysis of the causal relationship between health and perceived indoor environment
Authors
Charlotte Brauer
Esben Budtz-Jørgensen
Sigurd Mikkelsen
Publication date
01-05-2008
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health / Issue 6/2008
Print ISSN: 0340-0131
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1246
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-007-0244-6

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