Abstract
Background
Experimental studies suggest ultrafine particles (UFPs), the smallest size fraction of particulate matter, may be more toxic than larger particles, however personal sampling studies in children are lacking.
Objective
The objective of this analysis was to examine individual, housing, and neighborhood characteristics associated with personal UFP concentrations as well as the differences in exposures that occur within varying microenvironments.
Methods
We measured weekly personal UFP concentrations and GPS coordinates in 117 adolescents ages 13–17 to describe exposures across multiple microenvironments. Individual, home, and neighborhood characteristics were collected by caregiver completed questionnaires.
Results
Participants regularly exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke had significantly higher indoor concentrations of UFPs compared to participants who were not. We observed that the ‘home’ microenvironment dominated the relative contribution of overall UFP concentrations and sampling time, however, relative proportion of integrated UFP exposure were higher in ‘other’ environments.
Impact Statement
In this study, we employed a novel panel study design, involving real-time measurement of UFP exposure within the multiple microenvironments of adolescents. We found a combination of personal sampling and detailed activity patterns should be used in future studies to accurately describe exposure-behavior relationships.
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Data availability
Requests for deidentified data may be made to the corresponding author.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the participants of this study for their time and dedication to complete personal air monitoring.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Grant R33ES024713.
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AT: Data curation, Formal analysis, Visualization, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing. CW: Methodology, Resources, Software, Data curation, Writing—review & editing, Investigation, Project administration. PR: Methodology, Writing—review & editing, Conceptualization, Supervision, Funding acquisition.
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Study protocols were approved by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Institutional Review Board (2017-1068).
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Turner, A., Wolfe, C. & Ryan, P.H. Personal exposure to ultrafine particles in multiple microenvironments among adolescents. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-023-00638-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-023-00638-7