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PRELIMINARY PARTICULATE MATTER MASS CONCENTRATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH LONGITUDINAL PANEL STUDIES "ASSESSING HUMAN EXPOSURES OF HIGH RISK SUBPOPULATIONS TO PARTICULATE MATTER"
Citation:
Williams, R W., L A. Wallace, J C. Suggs, E G. Evans, J P. Creason, V R. Highsmith, L S. Sheldon, A W. Rea, A F. Vette, R B. Zweidinger, K W. Leovic, G A. Norris, M S. Landis, C HowardReed, C Stevens, T L. Conner, C. E. Rodes, P. A. Lawless, J. Thornburg, L. S. Liu, D. Kalman, J. Kaufman, J. Q. Koenig, T. L. Larson, T. Lumley, L. Sheppard, K. Brown, H. Suh, A. Wheeler, D. Gold, P. Koutrakis, AND M. Lippmann. PRELIMINARY PARTICULATE MATTER MASS CONCENTRATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH LONGITUDINAL PANEL STUDIES "ASSESSING HUMAN EXPOSURES OF HIGH RISK SUBPOPULATIONS TO PARTICULATE MATTER". U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/086 (NTIS PB2002-100444), 2001.
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 NERL Particulate Matter Longitudinal Panel Studies were used to characterize temporal variations of personal exposure to PM and related co-pollutants, including that of PM measured at ambient sites. These studies were fundamental in understanding the associations between personal exposure to PM, PM measured at ambient sites, and health effects, especially for susceptible sub-populations. Projects were designed to evaluate different sub-populations, regions of the country, seasons, and housing conditions. Susceptible sub-populations included chronic obstructive-pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, individuals with cardiovascular disease, the elderly, and asthmatics among others. These studies represented a cooperative efforts between the NERL and other scientific organizations. This report documents the progress of field data collections associated with the aforementioned studies and reports preliminary data from those studies where data validation has been completed. Collected data is being used to develop databases representing actual human exposures to particulate matter and related copollutants of ambient origin. These data fill a critical scientific need for the Agency in identifying potentially important exposure variables, as well as providing inputs for modeling and risk assessment.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through its Office of Research and Development partially funded and collaborated in the research described here under contract numbers 68-D2-0134 (QST Environmental), 68-D2-0187 (SRA Technologies, Inc), 68-D-99-012, 68- D5-0040 (Research Triangle Institute) and cooperative agreement numbers CR-827159 (Harvard School of Public Health), CR-827177 (University of Washington), CR-827164 (New York University) CR-820076 (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill), CR-828186-01-0 (Shaw University). It has been subjected to the Agency's peer and administrative review, and it has been approved for publication as an EPA document. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.