'Old building syndrome' is another related term you might come across, although there isn't really a distinct definition for this one. With BRI, the illness caused by the building will usually stick around and require treatment, even after the individual has been out of the building for quite some time. With SBS, the symptoms/illness will usually go away when the individual(s) leave the building. With BRI, the cause of the illness is known. The two primary differences between SBS and BRI are that SBS consists of a set of symptoms, of which the cause is unknown. There is a wide range of symptoms and diagnoses that exist under these umbrella terms, and there may be some overlap. SBS and BRI are both categories of illness where individuals or groups of people are made sick by something in a building (usually a home or workplace).

There has to be a proven connection between a building-related exposure and a specific illness for it to be considered a BRI.īRIs differ from sick building syndrome (SBS) because the causes can be determined, whereas sick building syndrome is used as a term to refer to symptoms of acute health and/or comfort effects for which no specific cause can be found but that can be attributed to time spent in a particular building.

For the universal use in clinical practice, it is necessary to prepare helpful diagnostic criteria of this SHS classification based on pathogenesis and carry our study forward all over the country.Building-related illnesses (BRI) are diseases that are directly caused by air-related problems and poor indoor environments in buildings. The proportion of possible MCS cases was higher in the chemical induced SHS group (types 1 and 2) than in other types among male patients. The cases classified as SHS type 4 more frequently had allergic past histories than did other types. Relations between SHS and allergy/MCS were also studied. The agreements on the classification made by clinical ecologists and general physicians reached 77.1% (Cohen's kappa=0.631), suggesting that this new classification was both apt and accurate. The classification is as follows: type 1 (symptoms of chemical intoxication), type 2 (symptoms developed possibly due to chemical exposure), type 3 (symptoms developed not because of chemical exposure but rather because of psychological or mental factors), and type 4 (symptoms developed due to allergies or other diseases). A total of 214 patients complaining of SHS and/or MCS were independently classified using a new classification by clinical ecologists who are experienced physicians with expert knowledge of clinical ecology and general physicians according to disease pathogenesis from clinical records.

To establish the concept of SHS, we propose to introduce a new classification for SHS. Symptoms of SHS/SBS disappear after leaving the sick house/building, while symptoms of multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) are elicited by the chance of chemical exposure after leaving the sick house/building. Sick house syndrome (SHS) is a Japanese concept derived from sick building syndrome (SBS), however SHS includes a broader scope of sickness than does SBS.

Sick house syndrome symptoms