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THE 1998 BALTIMORE PARTICULATE MATTER EPIDEMIOLOGY-EXPOSURE STUDY: PART 1 - COMPARISON OF AMBIENT, RESIDENTIAL OUTDOOR, INDOOR AND APARTMENT PARTICULATE MATTER MONITORING
Citation:
Williams, R W., J C. Suggs, R B. Zweidinger, G F. Evans, J P. Creason, R K. Kwok, C. E. Rodes, P. A. Lawless, AND L S. Sheldon. THE 1998 BALTIMORE PARTICULATE MATTER EPIDEMIOLOGY-EXPOSURE STUDY: PART 1 - COMPARISON OF AMBIENT, RESIDENTIAL OUTDOOR, INDOOR AND APARTMENT PARTICULATE MATTER MONITORING. JOURNAL OF EXPOSURE ANALYSIS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EPIDEMIOLOGY 10(6):518-532, (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:
A combined epidemiological-exposure panel study was conducted during the summer of 1998 in Baltimore, Maryland. The objectives of the exposure analysis component of the 28-day study were to investigate the statistical relationships between particulate matter (PM) and related co-pollutants from numerous spatial boundaries associated with an elderly population, provide daily mass concentrations needed for the epidemiological assessment, and perform an extensive personal exposure assessment. Repeated 24-h integrated PM2.5 (n=394) and PM10 (n=170) data collections corresponding to stationary residential central indoor, individual apartment, residential outdoor and ambient monitoring were obtained using the same sampling methodology. An additional 325 PM2.5 personal air samples were collected from a pool of 21 elderly (65+ years of age) subjects. These subjects were residents of the 18-story retirement facility where residential monitoring was conducted. Mean daily central indoor and residential apartment concentrations were approximately 10 g/m3. Outdoor and ambient PM2.5 concentrations averaged 22 ug/m3 with a daily range of 6.7-59.3 ug/m3. The slope of the central indoor/outdoor PM2.5 mass relationship was 0.38. The average daily ratio of PM2.5/PM10 mass concentrations across the measurement sites ranged from 0.73 to 0.92. Both the central indoor and mean apartment PM2.5 mass concentrations were highly correlated with the outdoor variables (r>0.94). The lack of traditionally recognized indoor sources of PM present within the facility might have accounted for the high degree of correlation observed between the variables. Results associated with the personal monitoring effort are discussed in depth in Part 2 of this article.
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 an endorsement or recommendation for use.