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2004 Progress Report: A Study of Personal Exposure to Air Toxics Among a Subset of the Residential U.S. Population (VOC Project)
EPA Grant Number: R828678C004Subproject: this is subproject number 004 , 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: Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Center (NUATRC)
Center Director: Beskid, Craig
Title: A Study of Personal Exposure to Air Toxics Among a Subset of the Residential U.S. Population (VOC Project)
Investigators: Beskid, Craig
Institution: Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Center
Current Institution: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute , University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
EPA Project Officer: Stacey Katz/Gail Robarge,
Project Period: January 2, 2001 through December 31, 2005 (Extended to December 31, 2008)
Project Period Covered by this Report: January 2, 2004 through December 31, 2005
RFA: Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Center (NUATRC) (1997)
Research Category: Air Quality and Air Toxics , Targeted Research
Description:
Objective:The primary objectives of this research are to:
- Characterize the distribution of exposures to selected volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for a subset of the U.S. population by obtaining 48- to 72-hour measurements of personal exposure to selected VOCs for 1,000 individuals between the ages of 20 and 59 years, selected as a representative subsample of this subgroup of the U.S. population. Information on levels of exposure to these compounds is essential to determine the need for regulatory mechanisms to reduce the levels of air toxics to which the general population is exposed.
- Examine the relationship between personal exposure to selected VOCs and health status, as well as demographic, economic, and behavioral characteristics obtained from interview data; and to examine the variation in personal exposures of study subjects to VOCs in relation to these factors.
Under the Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Center (NUATRC)-National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) collaborative agreement, data were collected for the 3-year period 1999-2001. The main objective of the VOC Project was to provide a profile of personal exposures to a group of VOCs in a national population. No other data set like this exists, as far as we know. The population for the VOC Project is a representative subset of the residential U.S. population aged 20-59 years. Because of the wide variety of demographic and lifestyle information collected from these subjects in the main part of the NHANES survey, there are many opportunities for additional research with these data.
In February 2002, NCHS announced a new policy to publicly release data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) Project every 2 years instead of every 3 years. Under this schedule, the 1999-2000 VOC Project data will be eligible for public release on the NCHS Internet site, but data from 2001 will be available only through the NCHS Research Data Center.
Because the NUATRC had used two different laboratory contractors for analysis of the VOC data, NCHS began a thorough review of quality control/quality assurance data early in 2003 to check consistency of the data across the two laboratories. Both Clayton Laboratories and the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI) Laboratory were required to submit a laboratory manual, management plan, and a quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) Plan to NUATRC prior to beginning work on the VOC project badges. The NUATRC forwarded these QA/QC plans to outside experts for approval, and each laboratory was visited for an onsite audit during the project period. Both laboratories were required to submit quarterly progress reports to the NUATRC, with copies to the NCHS project officer. The two laboratories used different formats in preparing their QA/QC Reports than the format that NCHS requires from its contractors. To be certain that all the required data have been gathered and reported, and that these results were of acceptable quality for NCHS standards, in early 2003, Dr. David Lacher of NCHS undertook a rigorous review of the QA/QC data prepared by both laboratories. Results from the review were not complete until the end of the year, but at that time, NCHS indicated that they had approved the QA/QC data provided through the two laboratory contractors by the NUATRC. Following that QA/QC review, NCHS conducted a general review of the data set.
In March 2004, NUATRC participated in a joint NUATRC-NCHS NHANES VOC Exposure Monitoring Workshop at NCHS. The Workshop was co-chaired by Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) member Dr. John Bailar and NHANES Director Clifford Johnson. Panel members included Edo Pellizzari, Ph.D., Paul Feder, Ph.D., David Ashley, Ph.D., Thomas Stock, Ph.D., Martin Harper, Ph.D., and Edward Avol. Also attending were Craig Beskid, Lata Shirname-More, Ph.D., and Brenda Gehan from the NUATRC; and Susan Schober, Ph.D., Lester Curtin, Ph.D., David Lacher, MD, Brenda Lewis, and Ruben Montes from NCHS. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss and further investigate the quality and consistency of the VOC Project data set across the two laboratories and to determine how much of the 1999-2000 data were valid and suitable for release on the NCHS Internet site.
Prior to the workshop, the compounds 1,3-butadiene, chloroprene and methylene chloride had been judged ineligible for release because of their volatility, which prevented the collection of an adequate number of valid measurements for these compounds. Based on the evaluation and recommendation of the panel members, ten compounds were named suitable for release. These include benzene, chloroform, ethylbenzene, tetrachloroethylene, toluene, trichloroethylene, 1,4-dichloroethylene, methyl tert-butyl ether, o-xylene, and M/p-xylene. Data for two additional compounds, styrene and carbon tetrachloride, were reviewed by the panel, but judged not suitable for release.
At the March workshop, it also was proposed that a publication be written and published jointly by NUATRC and NCHS. The publication would describe the project, the importance of the results, and any caveats needed by researchers wanting to use the data. The publication would be modeled on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Second National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals released in 2003. NCHS would produce some summary data tables from the 2-year data set for the publication, and the imminent release of the 1999-2001 data set in the NCHS Research Data Center would be mentioned. This publication would allow the NUATRC to publicize the project and the two data sets.
In October, NCHS released the 1999 and 2000 NHANES VOC data set to NUATRC for review and checking prior to its public release on the NCHS Web Site. Based on the recommendation of the SAP, NUATRC issued short-term contracts to Dr. Bill Spears, School of Public Health, at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, and to Dr. Tom Stock, School of Public Health, at the University of Texas, Health Science Center, Houston, to assist in this QA effort. There were several aims for this data review. The first was to determine whether the environmental measurements were comparable with measurements from previous population studies of personal exposure of this type; and whether these measurements demonstrated the types of consistent relationships between compounds observed by other investigators. A further goal was to demonstrate the feasibility of performing appropriate analyses for groups of study subjects that involved exposure variables from the VOC Project and demographic variables from the main NHANES survey. The review also included evaluation of household and activity data obtained from the VOC Project, study subject questionnaires, and investigation of potential associations between these activities and personal exposures. Dr. Spears prepared summary data files as requested for review by NUATRC staff and by Dr. Stock during the 6-week review period. Dr. Stock prepared a final evaluation report on the data review procedures and conclusions. In the report, Dr. Stock stated that the results of the review were consistent with findings from other studies of this type, as well as being consistent with his own experience in investigating personal exposures to VOCs in numerous field studies.
Future Activities:A joint NUATRC-NCHS report will be written describing the VOC Project. It will include discussion of the questionnaire results and how they relate to previous exposure assessment results as well as a discussion of any new interpretations. The format of the data presentations will be modeled on CDC’s Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals. It will be submitted to a peer review evaluation and published as a joint NUATRC-NCHS report.
NUATRC is planning to release a Request for Applications for analysis of the VOC Project data set. The 1999-2000 VOC Project data set will be posted on the NCHS Web Site. Researchers will be able to access these data, which provide a profile of VOC exposures for a national population. They will be able to conduct analyses, using not only the VOC Project exposure data set, but also the corresponding demographic, behavioral, economic, and health status data collected as part of the NHANES Survey.
Supplemental Keywords:air pollution, urban, monitoring, exposure, methods, indoor air, volatile organic compounds, VOCs, particulate matter, PM, environmental policy, exposure, health risk assessment, physical processes, risk assessments, susceptibility/sensitive population/genetic susceptibility, air toxics, genetic susceptibility, acute health effects, acute cardiovascular effects, acute exposure, acute lung injury, air contaminant exposure, air quality, airborne urban contaminants, airway disease, aldehydes, assessment of exposure, atmospheric particulate matter, cardiac arrest, cardiopulmonary response, children, children’s environmental health, chronic health effects, copollutants, copollutant exposures, environmental hazard exposures, fine particles, health effects, human exposure, human health risk, human susceptibility, inhaled pollutants, long-term exposure, lung inflammation, particulate exposure, sensitive populations, susceptible subpopulations, toxics,
,
HUMAN HEALTH, POLLUTANTS/TOXICS, ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Air, Scientific Discipline, Health, RFA, PHYSICAL ASPECTS, Susceptibility/Sensitive Population/Genetic Susceptibility, Risk Assessment, Biology, Risk Assessments, genetic susceptability, Health Risk Assessment, Physical Processes, air toxics, Chemicals, Atmospheric Sciences, particulate matter, Environmental Chemistry, Exposure, Air Pollution, biomarkers, exposure assessment, environmental hazard exposures, airborne urban contaminants, acute exposure, Acute health effects, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), air contaminant exposure, co-pollutants, air quality, cardiopulmonary response, fine particles, industrial air pollution, cardiopulmonary responses, human health risk, lung inflammation, toxics, acute cardiovascular effects, air pollutants, chronic health effects, PM 2.5, sensitive populations, acute lung injury, atmospheric chemistry, inhaled, atmospheric particulate matter, copollutant exposures, long term exposure, human susceptibility, demographics, behavioral characteristics, human exposure, particulate exposure
Relevant Websites:
http://www.sph.uth.tmc.edu/mleland/ 
Progress and Final Reports:
2001 Progress Report
2002 Progress Report
2003 Progress Report
Original Abstract
2005 Progress Report
Main Center Abstract and Reports:
R824834 Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Center (NUATRC)
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