Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Air Toxics Exposures Among Teenagers in New York City and Los Angeles - A Columbia-Harvard Study (TEACH)
EPA Grant Number: R824834C001Subproject: this is subproject number 001 , established and managed by the Center Director under grant R824834
(EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
Center: Health Effects Institute (2015 - 2020)
Center Director: Greenbaum, Daniel S.
Title: Air Toxics Exposures Among Teenagers in New York City and Los Angeles - A Columbia-Harvard Study (TEACH)
Investigators: Kinney, Patrick L. , Pederson, Dee C. , Spengler, John D. , Ross, James M. , Johnson, Dave , Aggarwal, Maneesha , Ramstrom, Sonja , Chillrud, Steven
Institution: Columbus State University , Harvard University
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: December 1, 1997 through December 31, 2000
RFA: Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Center (NUATRC) (1997) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Congressionally Mandated Center , Urban Air Toxics , Targeted Research
Objective:
The purpose of this research effort was to study the personal exposures to urban air toxics experienced by a group of students living in New York City (NYC) and in Los Angeles (LA). The study was to provide information on the roles of seasons and days of the week, different meteorological conditions, and daily activities on exposures to selected volatile organic compounds (VOCs), aldehydes, and metals on particles of < 2.5 microns (PM2.5) present in the environment. Soluble fractions of selected metals were assayed for correlations with source measurements. Exposure measurements were made in indoor, outdoor, and personal environments. The investigators related these exposures to the apportionment of air toxics among area, and point and mobile sources, as well as non-anthropogenic sources.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
The study was funded in response to NUATRC RFA 96-01. This study was in compliance with the Columbia University's Institutional Review Board guidelines and governmental human consent regulations. The quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) procedures were in accordance with NUATRC and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines.
During the first year, a pre-pilot study was carried out in the Boston, MA, metropolitan area in which the experimental design and measurement system was tested on a reduced scale (10 subjects). Measurements of 48-hour exposures to 10 VOC, three aliphatic aldehydes and the total mass and specific metal content of the 2.5 microns particle fraction. Methodology for determining home ventilation rates was tested and the relevance of soluble metal analyses to personal exposure assessments was demonstrated. All mechanics of cohort subject treatment was tested and established in the pilot study prior to initiating the expanded study. A second pilot study was conducted in April/May 1998, for addressing logistical questions concerning implementation of the sampling among high school students, their teachers, and their families. Results from both pilot studies proved the necessary subject compliance, analytical accuracy, and sensitivity to assure valid scientific use. Initiation of the program commenced with measurements in NYC in the summer of 1998.
The study involves four largely identical field measurement campaigns: winter and summer in NYC and winter and summer in LA. In each city, 30 high school kids were monitored, once in winter and once in summer. Each subject measurement event involves personal, home indoor and home outdoor samples collected for 48 hours. Five subjects were monitored each week over a 6 to 8 week field campaign in each city season. Parameters include a suite of VOCs, a suite of aldehydes, PM2.5, black carbon, and a suite of particle trace elements. Home air exchange rate was monitored in each home during the air pollution measurement period. Along with subject-based monitoring, 48-hour sampling was completed on the school rooftop and at a non-urban upwind location.
A detailed home characterization questionnaire was administered prior to sampling. During the 24-hour personal sampling, a time activity log was completed by the subjects. In addition, at the completion of personal sampling, the subjects completed an activity recall questionnaire. An initial survey questionnaire, addressing basic demographic activity and health information, was completed by all subjects as well by an additional 500-600 students at the school, the latter forming the reference population.
Thirty-eight subjects from the A. Philip Randolph High School participated in the NYC winter measurements in 1999. Of these, 33 were sampled again in the summer of 1999. An additional 8 new subjects were monitored in summer, bringing the summer total to 41. These sampling results exceeded the target of 30 subjects per season. Laboratory analyses on the NYC samples were complete (except trace metals). Data processing on the NYC (winter) database also was complete aside from trace metals. The LA winter phase measurements were successfully completed. Recruitment was based at the Jefferson High School located in an economically underprivileged community. Survey forms (700) were completed at the school, and 40 subjects participated in the field-monitoring project. The LA laboratory analyses and data processing were ongoing.
Starting with the NYC winter measurements, a personal 3M Organic Vapor Monitor (OVM) passive sampler was periodically included with the active Thermal Desorption Tube (TDT) sampler during the 48-hour personal sampling to generate side-by-side data for comparing these two methods.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 6 publications for this subprojectSupplemental Keywords:
air pollution, particulate matter, PM2.5, volatile organic compounds, VOCs, Boston, Massachusetts, MA, New York, NY, Los Angeles, California, CA, urban, monitoring., RFA, Health, Scientific Discipline, Air, INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION, ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, particulate matter, Air Pollution, air toxics, Health Risk Assessment, Air Pollution Effects, Epidemiology, Risk Assessments, Biochemistry, Environmental Monitoring, Children's Health, Environmental Policy, Risk Assessment, health effects, urban air quality, urban air, air pollutants, human health effects, exposure, airway disease, environmental risks, children, human exposure, lung inflamation, particulate exposure, childhood respiratory disease, children's vulnerablity, urban air pollution, sensitive subgroups, children's environmental health, PM, human health, California, minority children, airborne urban contaminants, biomarker, human health riskProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractMain Center Abstract and Reports:
R824834 Health Effects Institute (2015 - 2020) Subprojects under this Center: (EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
R824834C001 Air Toxics Exposures Among Teenagers in New York City and Los Angeles - A Columbia-Harvard Study (TEACH)
R824834C002 Cardiopulmonary Response to Particulate Exposure
R824834C003 VOC Exposure in an Industry Impacted Community
R824834C004 A Study of Personal Exposure to Air Toxics Among a Subset of the Residential U.S. Population (VOC Project)
R824834C005 Methods Development Project for a Study of Personal Exposures to Toxic Air Pollutants
R824834C006 Relationship Between Indoor, Outdoor and Personal Air (RIOPA)
R824834C007 Development of the "Leland Legacy" Air Sampling Pump
R824834C008 Source Apportionment of Indoor Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Urban Residences
R824834C009 Development of a Personal Cascade Impactor Sampler (PCIS)
R824834C010 Testing the Metals Hypothesis in Spokane
R828678C001 Air Toxics Exposures Among Teenagers in New York City and Los Angeles—A Columbia-Harvard Study (TEACH)
R828678C002 Cardiopulmonary Effects of Metal-Containing Particulate Exposure
R828678C003 VOC Exposure in an Industry Impacted Community
R828678C004 A Study of Personal Exposure to Air Toxics Among a Subset of the Residential U.S. Population (VOC Project)
R828678C005 Oxygenated Urban Air Toxics and Asthma Variability in Middle School Children: A Panel Study (ATAC–Air Toxics and Asthma in Children)
R828678C006 Relationship between Indoor, Outdoor and Personal Air (RIOPA). Part II: Analyses of Concentrations of Particulate Matter Species
R828678C007 Development of the “Leland Legacy” Air Sampling Pump
R828678C008 Source Apportionment of Indoor PAHs in Urban Residences 98-03B
R828678C009 Development of a Personal Cascade Impactor Sampler (PCIS)
R828678C010 Testing the Metals Hypothesis in Spokane
R828678C011 A Pilot Geospatial Analysis of Exposure to Air Pollutants (with Special Attention to Air Toxics) and Hospital Admissions in Harris County, Texas
R828678C012 Impact of Exposure to Urban Air Toxics on Asthma Utilization for the Pediatric Medicaid Population in Dearborn, Michigan
R828678C013 Field Validation of the Sioutas Sampler and Leland Legacy Pump – Joint Project with EPA’s Environmental Technology Validation Program (ETV)
R828678C014 Performance Evaluation of the 3M Charcoal Vapor Monitor for Monitor Low Ambient Concentrations of VOCs
R828678C015 RIOPA Database Development
R828678C016 Contributions of Outdoor PM Sources to Indoor and Personal Exposures: Analysis of PM Species Concentrations” Focused on the PM Speciation and Apportioning of Sources
R828678C017 The Short and Long-Term Respiratory Effects of Exposure to PAHs from Traffic in a Cohort of Asthmatic Children
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.
Project Research Results
Main Center: R824834
144 publications for this center
53 journal articles for this center