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Windsor, Ontario Exposure Assessment Study: Design and Methods Validation of Personal, Indoor and Outdoor Air Pollution Monitoring
Citation:
Wheeler, A. J., X. Xu, R. Kulka, H. You, L. A. WALLACE, G. Mallach, K. Van Ryswy, M. MacNeill, J. Kearney, P. Rasmussen, E. Dabek-Zlotorzynska, D. Wang, R. Poon, R. W. WILLIAMS, C. Stocco, A. Anastassopoulos, J. Miller, R. Dales, AND J. R. BROOK. Windsor, Ontario Exposure Assessment Study: Design and Methods Validation of Personal, Indoor and Outdoor Air Pollution Monitoring. JOURNAL OF THE AIR & WASTE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION. Air & Waste Management Association, Pittsburgh, PA, 61(3):324-338, (2011).
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 is improved regulatory programs and policies for EPA.
Description:
The Windsor, Ontario Exposure Assessment Study evaluated the contribution of ambient air pollutants to personal and indoor exposures of adults and asthmatic children living in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. In addition, the role of personal, indoor, and outdoor air pollution exposures upon asthmatic children’s respiratory health was assessed. Several active and passive sampling methods were applied, or adapted, for personal, indoor, and outdoor residential monitoring of nitrogen dioxide, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter (PM; PM ≤ 2.5 μm [PM2.5] and ≤ 10 μm [PM10] in aerodynamic diameter), elemental carbon, ultrafine particles, ozone, air exchange rates, allergens in settled dust, and particulate-associated metals. Participants completed five consecutive days of monitoring during the winter and summer of 2005 and 2006. During 2006, in addition to undertaking the air pollution measurements, asthmatic children completed respiratory health measurements (including peak flow meter tests and exhaled breath condensate) and tracked respiratory symptoms in a diary. Extensive quality assurance and quality control steps were implemented, including the collocation of instruments at the National Air Pollution Surveillance site operated by Environment Canada and at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality site in Allen Park, Detroit, MI. During field sampling, duplicate and blank samples were also completed and these data are reported. In total, 50 adults and 51 asthmatic children were recruited to participate, resulting in 922 participant days of data. When comparing the methods used in the study with standard reference methods, field blanks were low and bias was acceptable, with most methods being within 20% of reference methods. Duplicates were typically within less than 10% of each other, indicating that study results can be used with confidence. This paper covers study design, recruitment, methodology, time activity diary, surveys, and quality assurance and control results for the different methods used.
URLs/Downloads:
Windsor, Ontario Exposure Assessment Study: Design and Methods Validation of Personal, Indoor and Outdoor Air Pollution Monitoring (PDF, NA pp, 9071 KB, about PDF)Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association
