Contribution of indoor and outdoor environments to PM2.5 personal exposure of children—VESTA study

doi:10.1016/S0048-9697(02)00136-5

Science of The Total Environment

Volume 297, Issues 1–3, 7 October 2002, Pages 175-181

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0048-9697(02)00136-5 Get rights and content

Abstract

Several studies among adult populations showed that an array of outdoor and indoor sources of particles emissions contributed to personal exposures to atmospheric particles, with tobacco smoke playing a prominent role (J. Expo. Anal. Environ. Epidemiol. 6 (1996) 57, Environ. Int. 24 (1998) 405, Arch. Environ. Health 54 (1999) 95). The Vesta study was carried out to assess the role of exposure to traffic emissions in the development of childhood asthma. In this paper, we present data on 68 children aged 8–14 years, living in the metropolitan areas of Paris (n=30), Grenoble (n=15) and Toulouse (n=23), France, who continuously carried, over 48 h, a rucksack that contained an active PM2.5 sampler. Data about home indoor sources were collected by questionnaires. In parallel, daily concentrations of PM10 in ambient air were monitored by local air quality networks. The contribution of indoor and outdoor factors to personal exposures was assessed using multiple linear regression models. Average personal exposure across all children was 23.7 μg/m³ (S.D.=19.0 μg/m³), with local means ranging from 18.2 to 29.4 μg/m³. The final model explains 36% of the total between-subjects variance, with environmental tobacco smoke contributing for more than a third to this variability; presence of pets at home, proximity of the home to urban traffic emissions, and concomitant PM10 ambient air concentrations were the other main determinants of personal exposure.

Introduction

Sources of atmospheric particles are classified as outdoor environmental sources, e.g. traffic exhausts, industrial combustion processes or erosion, and indoor sources, such as tobacco smoke, indoor combustion processes (e.g. for heating or cooking), pets or human activity at home (Marge et al., 1999). The poor correlations often observed between personal exposures measured on a short time scale, and ambient air concentrations measured during the same period (Lioy et al., 1990, Monn et al., 1997, Boudet et al., 2000), suggest that a host of factors other than ambient air may contribute to personal exposures. Since people spend approximately 80% of their time in indoor environments, in western life-style areas, indoor concentrations might represent an important determinant of personal exposure. The influence of outdoor sources also depends upon the characteristics of indoor ventilation and upon the structure of the buildings, both being important determinants of the air exchange rate (Rojas-Bracho et al., 2000). The penetration factor from outdoor to indoor environment for fines particles has been estimated between 0.7 and 1 (Oglesby et al., 2000). While there are many papers describing the contribution of different indoor and outdoor particles sources on personal exposure of adults (Ozkaynak et al., 1996, Janssen et al., 1998, Ebelt et al., 2000), personal exposure studies on children are scarce (Mosqueron et al., 2001).

The aim of this study, which is part of a research program on the role of air pollution on the occurrence of childhood asthma (the VESTA study), is to assess the main factors that influence personal exposure to fines particles (PM2.5) of children in French urban environments.

Section snippets

Study population and PM2.5 personal exposure measurements

In the VESTA study, 434 children, 4–14 years of age, were included in five French cities (Grenoble, Paris, Toulouse, Clermont-Ferrand and Nice), between March 1998 and December 2000. The design of this study is detailed elsewhere (Zmirou et al., in press). This paper deals with a fraction of this study population, who could participate to the PM2.5 personal exposure measurements. Briefly, children between 8 and 14, who were all volunteers (n=68), carried during 48 h an active sampler (SKC pump,

Results

Fig. 1 and Table 1 summarises the characteristics of the study population, by city. Average values of 48-h PM2.5 personal exposures (P=0.008), of background PM10 ambient air concentrations (P=0.05), of the index of traffic exposure (P<10⁻³), as well as of the number of persons/room (P<10⁻³) differ according to the city. By contrast, no difference was observed according to the city for the number of cigarettes smoked by the mother during the 48 h of measurements (P=0.48), and for the percentage

Discussion

In this study conducted in three French metropolitan areas, 36% of the variance of children PM2.5 personal exposure is explained, on the one hand, by indoor factors such as maternal tobacco smoke (36.1% of the total between-subjects variability) and presence of rodents at home (20.5%), and on the other hand by outdoor factors such as background PM10 ambient concentrations (23.6%) and, to a lesser degree, the proximity to traffic exhausts (12.2%).

These results are in agreement with other

Conclusion

This study evaluates the contribution of indoor and outdoor factors on exposure of children to air particles, and confirms that short-term personal exposures are not closely related to ambient air concentrations, as already demonstrated for adults. It does not result that ambient air surveillance data should not be used to assess population exposures. Merely, it shows that, while these surveillance data are easier to get in routine, characteristics of personal and population activities, and

Acknowledgements

This program was supported by the French Research Program on air pollution (Primequal-Predit). Stephanie Gauvin received a doctoral grant by ADEME (French Environment and Energy Agency) and Union Française des Industries Pétrolières (UFIP). The authors thank the heads of the air quality monitoring networks of the three cities (ASCOPARG: MB Personnaz, ORAMIP: M. Della Massa, AIRPARIF: Ph Lameloise) for their collaboration, as well as Météo France.

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Comparing human exposure to fine particulate matter in low and high-income countries: A systematic review of studies measuring personal PM<inf>2.5</inf> exposure
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However, it is important to note that the identification of sources in the reviewed studies was largely observational or tested when comparing different groups (i.e. changing from biomass to LPG stoves or comparing smokers and non-smokers). Only a small proportion of studies quantified the contribution of these sources to daily PM2.5 exposure measuring the chemical elements of PM2.5 and utilising positive matrix factorisation (Larson et al., 2004; Shang et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2015) or employing linear regression methods (Brown et al., 2009; Chen et al., 2018; Cortez-Lugo et al., 2015; Gauvin et al., 2002; Jedrychowski et al., 2006; Mehta et al., 2014; Mohammadyan, 2011; Mosqueron et al., 2002; Sanchez et al., 2020; Sinaga et al., 2020; Van Ryswyk et al., 2014). The variety of PM2.5 sources emphasises that a one size fits all approach to reduce exposure in countries is unlikely to be effective, highlighting the importance of conducting local personal exposure studies.
Due to the adverse health effects of air pollution, researchers have advocated for personal exposure measurements whereby individuals carry portable monitors in order to better characterise and understand the sources of people's pollution exposure.
The aim of this systematic review is to assess the differences in the magnitude and sources of personal PM_2.5 exposures experienced between countries at contrasting levels of income.
This review summarised studies that measured participants personal exposure by carrying a PM_2.5 monitor throughout their typical day. Personal PM_2.5 exposures were summarised to indicate the distribution of exposures measured within each country income category (based on low (LIC), lower-middle (LMIC), upper-middle (UMIC), and high (HIC) income countries) and between different groups (i.e. gender, age, urban or rural residents).
From the 2259 search results, there were 140 studies that met our criteria. Overall, personal PM_2.5 exposures in HICs were lower compared to other countries, with UMICs exposures being slightly lower than exposures measured in LMICs or LICs. 34% of measured groups in HICs reported below the ambient World Health Organisation 24-h PM_2.5 guideline of 15 μg/m³, compared to only 1% of UMICs and 0% of LMICs and LICs. There was no difference between rural and urban participant exposures in HICs, but there were noticeably higher exposures recorded in rural areas compared to urban areas in non-HICs, due to significant household sources of PM_2.5 in rural locations. In HICs, studies reported that secondhand smoke, ambient pollution infiltrating indoors, and traffic emissions were the dominant contributors to personal exposures. While, in non-HICs, household cooking and heating with biomass and coal were reported as the most important sources.
This review revealed a growing literature of personal PM_2.5 exposure studies, which highlighted a large variability in exposures recorded and severe inequalities in geographical and social population subgroups.
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¹: Present address: CSTB, Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment, Paris.

²: Present address: Nancy University Medical School.

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Contribution of indoor and outdoor environments to PM2.5 personal exposure of children—VESTA study

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Study population and PM2.5 personal exposure measurements

Results

Discussion

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Atmos. Environ.

Sci. Tot. Environ.

Fraction of PM2.5 personal exposure attributable to urban traffic: a modeling approach

Inhal. Toxicol.

Total personal exposure to fine particulate matter in a urban adult population: the role of ambient air and transport

Int. J. Veh. Design

Mapping urban air pollution using GIS: a regression-based approach

Int. J. Geographical Information Sci.

Daily personal exposure to air pollutants of office workers in Milano

Proc. Healthy Buildings/IAQ

Indoor–outdoor relationship of respirable sulfates and particles

Atmos. Environ.

Exposure of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients to particulate matter: relationship between personal and ambient air concentrations

J. Air Waste Manage.

Temporal variability of microenvironmental time budgets in Maryland

J. Expo. Analy. Environ. Epidemiol.

Road traffic, NO2 exposure and respiratory function among children (VESTA study)

Int. J. Vehicle Design

Air pollution exposure in European cities: the ‘Expolis’ study

J. Expos. Anal. Environ. Epidemiol.

Personal sampling of PM10 in adults: relation between personal, indoor and outdoor concentrations

Am. J. Epidemiol.

Fraction of PM_2.5 personal exposure attributable to urban traffic: a modeling approach

Road traffic, NO₂ exposure and respiratory function among children (VESTA study)

Personal sampling of PM₁₀ in adults: relation between personal, indoor and outdoor concentrations