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PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM THE NERL RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK PARTICULATE MATTER PANEL STUDY
Citation:
Williams, R W., V R. Highsmith, L S. Sheldon, A W. Rea, A F. Vette, J C. Suggs, K W. Leovic, C HowardReed, G. Saunders, A. Ejire, C. E. Rodes, J. Thornburg, AND P. A. Lawless. PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM THE NERL RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK PARTICULATE MATTER PANEL STUDY. Presented at ISEA 2000 Exposure Analysis in the 21st Century: Integrating Science, Policy and Quality of Life, Monterey Peninsula, CA, October 24-27, 2000.
Impact/Purpose:
The primary study objectives are:
1.To quantify personal exposures and indoor air concentrations for PM/gases for potentially sensitive individuals (cross sectional, inter- and intrapersonal).
2.To describe (magnitude and variability) the relationships between personal exposure, and indoor, outdoor and ambient air concentrations for PM/gases for different sensitive cohorts. These cohorts represent subjects of opportunity and relationships established will not be used to extrapolate to the general population.
3.To examine the inter- and intrapersonal variability in the relationship between personal exposures, and indoor, outdoor, and ambient air concentrations for PM/gases for sensitive individuals.
4.To identify and model the factors that contribute to the inter- and intrapersonal variability in the relationships between personal exposures and indoor, outdoor, and ambient air concentrations for PM/gases.
5.To determine the contribution of ambient concentrations to indoor air/personal exposures for PM/gases.
6.To examine the effects of air shed (location, season), population demographics, and residential setting (apartment vs stand-alone homes) on the relationship between personal exposure and indoor, outdoor, and ambient air concentrations for PM/gases.
Description:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is currently conducting the National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) Research Triangle Park (RTP) Particulate Matter (PM) Panel Study. This study represents a one year investigation of PM and related co-pollutants involving two distinct populations living within the RTP. A primary goal of the study is to characterize the relationships between ambient and residential PM measures to those obtained from personal exposure monitoring. Approximately 30 participants will be enrolled for personal PM2.5 exposure monitoring from potentially susceptible populations. The participants will be recruited from low socio-economic-status (SES) African-Americans and those having implanted cardiac defibrillators. Each subject will be monitored for 7 consecutive days during each of four seasonal periods (summer 2000, fall 2000, winter 2001, spring 2001). A variety of integrated and real-time residential indoor, outdoor, and ambient PM and related co-pollutant measurements will be conducted. Measures of lung function and heart rate will be obtained from each participant as a means to investigate physiological health effects of PM exposure. Data presented will include a detailed description of the peer-reviewed study design. Preliminary mass concentration data from the summer 2000 exposure monitoring period will be compared to recent EPA PM panel studies in Baltimore, MD and Fresno, CA. These earlier studies established PM2.5 personal clouds of approximately 3 ug/m3 among elderly volunteers living within retirement communities. Results from these comparative studies indicate that subject population time activity patterns, housing conditions, and other factors influence personal PM exposure measurements.
This work has been funded wholly by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under contract #68-D-99-012 to the Research Triangle Institute and assistance agreement #CR-828186-01-0 to Shaw University. It has been subjected to Agency review and approved for publication.