Grantee Research Project Results
The relationship between averaged sulfate exposures and concentrations: results from exposure assessment panel studies in four U.S. cities.
Citation:
Sarnat JA, Brown KW, Bartell SM, Sarnat SE, Wheeler AJ, Suh HH, Koutrakis P. The relationship between averaged sulfate exposures and concentrations: results from exposure assessment panel studies in four U.S. cities. Environmental Science & Technology 2009;43(13):5028-5034.
Abstract:
This analysis examines differences between measured ambient indoor, and personal sulfate concentrations across cities, seasons, and individuals to elucidate how these differences may impact PM2.5 exposure measurement error. Data were analyzed from four panel studies conducted in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, and Steubenville (OH). Among the study locations, 1912 person-days of personal sulfate data were collected over 396 days involving 245 individual sampling sessions. Long-term differences in ambient and personal levels averaged over time are examined. Differences between averaged ambient and personal sulfate among and within cities were observed, driven by between subject and city differences in sulfate infiltration, Finf, from outdoors to indoors. Neglecting this source of variability in associations may introduce bias in studies examining long-term exposures and chronic health. Indoor sulfate was highly correlated with and similar in magnitude to personal sulfate, suggesting indoor PM monitoring may be another means of characterizing true exposure variability.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.