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THE 1998 BALTIMORE PARTICULATE MATTER EPIDEMIOLOGY-EXPOSURE STUDY: PART 2-PERSONAL EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT ASSOCIATED WITH AN ELDERLY STUDY POPULATION
Citation:
Williams, R W., J C. Suggs, J P. Creason, C. E. Rodes, P. A. Lawless, R K. Kwok, R B. Zweidinger, AND L S. Sheldon. THE 1998 BALTIMORE PARTICULATE MATTER EPIDEMIOLOGY-EXPOSURE STUDY: PART 2-PERSONAL EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT ASSOCIATED WITH AN ELDERLY STUDY POPULATION. JOURNAL OF EXPOSURE ANALYSIS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EPIDEMIOLOGY 10(6):533-543, (2000).
Impact/Purpose:
The primary study objective is to quantify the association(s) between day-to-day or experimental variations in ambient air particle mass concentrations and selected physiological functions in elderly persons living in a retirement centers or involved in selected clinical studies. The NERL will conduct exposure studies and provide real-time and integrated PM mass concentration and selected criteria pollutant data to assist the NHEERL collaborators conducting physiological monitoring in establishing selected health effect associations resulting from potential human exposures to PM-related air pollutants.
Description:
An integrated epidemiological-exposure panel study was conducted during the summer of 1998 which focused upon establishing relationships between potential human exposures to particulate matter (PM) and related co-pollutants with detectable health effects. The study design incorporated repeated individual 24-h integrated PM2.5 personal exposure monitoring. A total of 325 PM2.5 personal exposure samples were obtained during a 28-day study period using a subject pool of 21 elderly (65+ years of age) residents of an 18-story retirement facility near Baltimore, Maryland. Each sample represented a unique 24-h breathing zone measurement of PM2.5 mass concentration. PM2.5 and PM10 mass concentrations collected from the apartments of the subjects as well as residential and ambient sites were compared to individual and mean PM2.5 personal exposures. Daily PM2.5 personal exposure concentrations ranged from 2.4 to 47.8 ug/m3 with an overall individual study mean of 12.9 ug/m3. Mean PM2.5 personal exposures were determined to be highly correlated to those representing the central indoor (r=0.90) and ambient sites (r=0.89). Subjects reported spending an average of 92% of each day within the confines of the retirement center. Based upon measured and modeled exposures, a mean PM2.5 personal cloud of 3.1 ug/m3 was estimated. Data collected from these participants may be unique with respect to the general elderly population due to the communal lifestyle within the facility and reported low frequency of exposure to sources of PM.
The U.S. EPA, through its Office of Research and Development, funded and managed the research described here under contract no. 68-D5-0040 to the Research Triangle Institute. It has been subjected to agency review and approved for publication. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute and endorsement or recommendation for use.