Use of a Continuous Nephelometer to Measure Personal Exposure to Particles During the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Baltimore and Fresno Panel Studies

In population exposure studies, personal exposure to PM is typically measured as a 12- to 24-hr integrated mass concentration. To better understand short-term variation in personal PM exposure, continuous (1-min averaging time) nephelometers were worn by 15 participants as part of two U.S. Environme...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association (1995) 2000-07, Vol.50 (7), p.1125-1132
Main Authors: Howard-Reed, Cynthia, Rea, Anne W., Zufall, Maria J., Burke, Janet M., Williams, Ron W., Suggs, Jack C., Sheldon, Linda S., Walsh, Debra, Kwok, Richard
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activities of Daily Living
Aged
Aging
Air Pollution - analysis
Analysis methods
Applied sciences
Atmospheric pollution
Biological and medical sciences
Environmental Monitoring - methods
Epidemiology
Exact sciences and technology
Female
General aspects
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Methodology
Nephelometry and Turbidimetry
Particle Size
Pollution
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
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Summary:In population exposure studies, personal exposure to PM is typically measured as a 12- to 24-hr integrated mass concentration. To better understand short-term variation in personal PM exposure, continuous (1-min averaging time) nephelometers were worn by 15 participants as part of two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) longitudinal PM exposure studies conducted in Baltimore County, MD, and Fresno, CA. Participants also wore iner-tial impactor samplers (24-hr integrated filter samples) and recorded their daily activities in 15-min intervals. In Baltimore, the nephelometers correlated well (R 2 = 0.66) with the PM 25 impactors. Time-series plots of personal nephelometer data showed each participant's PM exposure to consist of a series of peaks of relatively short duration. Activities corresponding to a significant instrument response included cooking, outdoor activities, transportation, laundry, cleaning, shopping, gardening, moving between microenvironments, and removing/putting on the instrument. On average, 63-66% of the daily PM exposure occurred indoors at home (about 2/3 of which occurred during waking hours), primarily due to the large amount of time spent in that location (an average of 7277%). Although not a reference method for measuring mass concentration, the nephelometer did help identify PM sources and the relative contribution of those sources to an individual's personal exposure.
ISSN:1096-2247
2162-2906
DOI:10.1080/10473289.2000.10464150