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Personal Coarse Particulate Matter Exposures in an Adult Cohort
Citation:
WILLIAMS, R. W., M. W. CASE, K. YEATTS, F. CHEN, J. Scott, E. R. SVENDSEN, AND R. B. DEVLIN. Personal Coarse Particulate Matter Exposures in an Adult Cohort. ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 42(28):6743-6748, (2008).
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory′s (NERL) Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division (HEASD) conducts research in support of EPA′s mission to protect human health and the environment. HEASD′s research program supports Goal 1 (Clean Air) and Goal 4 (Healthy People) of EPA′s strategic plan. More specifically, our division conducts research to characterize the movement of pollutants from the source to contact with humans. Our multidisciplinary research program produces Methods, Measurements, and Models to identify relationships between and characterize processes that link source emissions, environmental concentrations, human exposures, and target-tissue dose. The impact of these tools are improved regulatory programs and policies for EPA.
Description:
Volunteers associated with the North Carolina Adult Asthma and Environment Study (NCAAES) participated in an investigation of personal daily exposures to coarse and fine particulate matter size fractions (PM10-2.5, PM2.5). Data from these personal measurements were then compared to community-based measures that might typically represent surrogate measurements of exposure often used in epidemiological assessments. To determine personal exposures to various particulate matter (PM) size fractions, a recently evaluated personal PM monitor capable of direct PM10-2.5 size fraction collection was used. Participants living in the central region of North Carolina and enrolled in the NCAAES were asked to wear the monitor attached to a supporting backpack for 24-h collection periods. These volunteers were monitored from two to four days with subsequent gravimetric analysis of their PM samples. Personal PM10-2.5 mass concentrations were observed to be highly variable and ranged from 7.6 to 40.2 μg/m3 over an eight month period. The median for this measurement from all participants (50th percentile) was 13.7 μg/m3. A coefficient of determination (r2) of 0.02 was established for community-based PM10-2.5 mass concentrations versus personal exposures. Similar coefficients established for PM2.5 mass revealed only a modest improvement in agreement (r2 = 0.12). Data from the exposure findings are reported here.
