Evaluation of Air Condition Use and Its Health Effects

The use of air conditioners (ACs) in homes has become a necessity in urban cities such as Lagos State. The rapid growth in the use of AC has been attributed majorly to protection from high thermal exposures. However, there have been controversies regarding physiological discomforts attributed to AC use. This study therefore seeks to elucidate the associations between AC use and some selected physical ailments using random samples from Lagos State. A structured questionnaire was administered to 200 randomly selected participants. The responses were scored, and the data were analyzed accordingly. The study showed that AC devices were mostly used in sitting room > bedroom > offices > vehicles. The frequency of cold, fever, headache, and chest pain significantly (p < 0.01) associate with the use of AC in both sitting room and bedroom. The prevalence of the associated ailments increased with increase in the AC contact duration (>6 h) among AC users evaluated in the study. Most of the participants (>70%) agreed that AC use brings thermal comfort and therefore is good to health. However, prolonged exposure in indoor AC environments increased the risk of physiological discomfort for the AC users in this study. The authors therefore suggest health workers to create awareness to educate AC users of the likely dangers with prolonged exposure.