BOSTON-Researchers from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health claim that improved office air quality can improve employee concentration, response time, and overall cognitive ability.

As part of the one-year study, an international research team surveyed more than 300 office workers in North America, Europe, and Asia. Participants are between 18 and 65 years old. Their office has a permanent workstation and works at least three days a week.

Each work area has an environmental sensor that can record the concentration of carbon dioxide and the smallest particulate matter (called PM2.5) in real time, as well as temperature and relative humidity. The staff was given a mobile application that performed one of two cognitive tests at predetermined intervals or when environmental sensors showed that carbon dioxide and PM2.5 levels were below or above certain thresholds.

One of the tests required participants to correctly recognize the colors of spelled words displayed in different colors, as a measure of cognitive speed and attention. Another test measures cognitive speed and working memory by asking various two-digit addition and subtraction questions.

As carbon dioxide and PM2.5 levels increase, the response time of participants slows and the accuracy of color-based tests decreases. For the math test​​, the increase in the level of carbon dioxide is related to the slower reaction time. In general, with the increase in the concentrations of the two pollutants, the workers answered fewer questions correctly within the stipulated time.

Tips for improving ventilation provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention include:

The research was published online in the journal Environmental Research Letters on September 9.

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