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2001 Progress Report: Personal PM Exposure Assessment

EPA Grant Number: R827355C003
Subproject: this is subproject number 003 , established and managed by the Center Director under grant R827355
(EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).

Center: Airborne PM - Northwest Research Center for Particulate Air Pollution and Health
Center Director: Koenig, Jane Q.
Title: Personal PM Exposure Assessment
Investigators: Liu, Sally , Claiborn, Candis , Gould, Timothy , Kalman, Dave , Larson, Timothy V. , Simpson, Chris
Current Investigators: Liu, Sally , Allen, Ryan , Claiborn, Candis , Kalman, Dave , Koenig, Jane Q. , Larson, Timothy V. , Simpson, Chris
Institution: University of Washington , Washington State University
Current Institution: University of Washington
EPA Project Officer: Stacey Katz/Gail Robarge,
Project Period: June 1, 1999 through May 31, 2004 (Extended to May 31, 2006)
Project Period Covered by this Report: June 1, 2001 through May 31, 2002
Project Amount: Refer to main center abstract for funding details.
RFA: Airborne Particulate Matter (PM) Centers (1999)
Research Category: Particulate Matter

Description:

Objective:

The objective of the exposure assessment project is to collect indoor, outdoor, and personal particulate matter (PM) exposure data from populations suspected of being susceptible to air pollution and to compare these individual level exposures with those from central sites.

Progress Summary:

Key Findings

Forest Fire Study. This study was conducted in August and September 2001, in Wenatchee and Chelan, WA. These two sites were selected based on population, distance to wildfire areas, and persistence of wildfires (predicted to continue for at least 1 week). We monitored PM mass and light scattering at subjects' homes and at a central monitoring site for 5 consecutive days in each city. Nine asthmatic subjects and two technicians wore pDRs for real-time PM2.5 monitoring and Ogawa samplers for 24-hour integrated O3 and NO2 sampling.

Particulate mass and light scattering were measured at a central site south of downtown Seattle (the Beacon Hill site) using Harvard Impactors with Teflon and quartz filters for PM2.5 (12 hours), IOGAPS (12 hours), and the Radiance nephelometer. Aldehydes were monitored with Sep-Paks coated with 2,4-DNPH. Methoxyphenols were analyzed from Teflon filters and urine samples.

Preliminary results indicated that peak PM concentrations of forest fires reached up to fivefold of the 24-hour averages, and peak PM exposures experienced by subjects reached 100 times the 24-hour average personal PM levels. Extrapolation of PM levels and health effects based on a simple extrapolation factor from 24 hours to 1 hour may be misleading. More data analysis is underway.

Wood Burning Study. This study was conducted in October 2001, through March 2002, in Seattle. To catch high wood smoke days, Liz Tuttle developed a forecast scheme for wood smoke potentials. A pool of cardiovascular (CV) subjects were prerecruited, screened, and placed on standby for monitoring. We also installed a monitoring scheme that would allow the monitoring period to break down into two subsessions to catch high wood smoke days. Twelve CV subjects previously enrolled in our 2000-2001 panel study, their homes (indoors and outdoors) and the central site were monitored (see Table 1) for PM2.5, wood smoke markers, NO2, EC/OC, CO, CO2 (indoors only), and temperature and RH (indoors only).

Table 1. Sampling Schedule for Winter 2001-2002

Winter Heating Season 2001-2002          (ID Convention: Mxx -> Hxx -> Vxx; Fxx -> Sxx -> Sxx -> Txx -> Pxx)
Monitoring Day
1
2
3
4
5
On or Off Day
ON
OFF
ON
OFF
ON
OFF
ON
OFF
ON
OFF
Subject ID
V1
9-Dec
10-Dec
10-Dec
11-Dec
11-Dec
12-Dec
12-Dec
13-Dec
13-Dec
14-Dec
V10, V29
V2
8-Jan
9-Jan
9-Jan
10-Jan
10-Jan
11-Jan
14-Jan
15-Jan
15-Jan
16-Jan
V01, V05
V3
17-Jan
18-Jan
18-Jan
19-Jan
21-Jan
22-Jan
22-Jan
23-Jan
23-Jan
24-Jan
V08, V15
V4
1-Feb
2-Feb
2-Feb
3-Feb
3-Feb
4-Feb
4-Feb
5-Feb
5-Feb
6-Feb
V17, P51
V5
18-Feb
19-Feb
19-Feb
20-Feb
20-Feb
21-Feb
21-Feb
22-Feb
22-Feb
23-Feb
P06, P69
V6
25-Feb
26-Feb
26-Feb
27-Feb
27-Feb
28-Feb
28-Feb
1-Mar
1-Mar
2-Mar
V33, P63

We are subjecting the data to our quality assurance/quality control procedures at this time. Data analysis is planned for later this summer.

Agricultural Burning Study. During Years 1 and 2 of the project, 10-day exposure assessments were conducted with a total of 108 subjects. The subjects were from groups suspected to be susceptible to the effects of PM exposure. Our subjects were healthy elderly, elderly with cardiac or respiratory disease, and children with asthma. Currently, exposure assessment and health effect analyses are restricted to these data.

In Year 3 of the project, a pilot study was conducted in April-May 2002, on Washington State University (WSU) campus in Pullman when farmers were burning fields.

Exposure Assessment in Susceptible Populations: Panel Studies. We continue to analyze data from Year 1 of the project and to review data from Year 2 of the project. The key findings thus far are summarized below:

· No significant differences in PM and copollutants exposures were observed between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and healthy subjects.

· Cross-sectionally, central-site PM2.5 and PM10 were weakly but significantly related to personal PM2.5 exposures (r = 0.17-0.29) in both elderly COPD and healthy subpopulations.

· The longitudinal correlation coefficients for personal PM2.5 exposures and central-site measurements calculated for each subject ranged between 0 and 0.79. The average daily PM2.5 outside the individual home sites was significantly correlated with PM2.5 measured at the central site (R2 = 0.92, slope = 1.00).

· Using the random component superposition model, we estimated that 40 percent of the personal PM2.5 exposures could be contributed to ambient sources, and 60 percent was from nonambient sources.

· The particle infiltration efficiency averages 0.53 ± 0.25, and differs significantly across dwelling types and by season.

· Despite having higher outdoor particle concentrations and spending more time outdoors, the pediatric subjects, as compared to elderly subjects, have no higher exposure to ambient particles.

· Based on the XRF results for 238 indoor/outdoor pairs taken between Autumn 2000 and Autumn 2001, 18 of the 33 examined elements had median values above their detection limits (Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, As, Br, Sn, Ba, and Pb). Of these latter species, only five had 75th percentile indoor-outdoor ratios less than 1 (S, K, V, Fe, and Pb); in contrast, six had corresponding ratios above 1.5 (Al, Si, Cl, Ca, Cr, Cu), indicating significant contributions from indoor sources for most elements.

· The correlations between indoor and outdoor levels were examined by performing a factor analysis on each of the 238 indoor samples and comparing these factor scores with those obtained from a similar analysis of the corresponding 238 outdoor samples. Three features were extracted from both outdoor and indoor samples: (1) a soillike feature exhibiting high correlations between Al, Si, Ca, Fe, and Ti; (2) a feature driven by high correlations between S, K, Cu, Zn, As, and Se; and (3) a separate Mn/Br/Pb feature. Feature 2 was most strongly associated with PM2.5 mass in both indoor and outdoor samples (R2 = 0.88).

Future Activities:

As mentioned earlier, a pilot project designed to study exposures and health effects of agricultural burning was conducted in the spring of 2002. A more comprehensive study is planned for the fall of 2002. Both the WSU and the University of Washington (UW) Institutional Review Boards approve the human subject forms. The field standard operation procedures and logs have been updated and distributed to the technicians. Three WSU technicians came to UW for a 1-day training. Subjects will be students at WSU who had physician-diagnosed asthma. Lessons from the pilot study will assist in planning a more comprehensive study of exposures to agricultural burning this fall. Subject screening is scheduled for the end of August 2002, when students return to the WSU campus. The wheat-burning season is usually from mid-September through the end of October.


Journal Articles on this Report: 4 Displayed | Download in RIS Format

Other subproject views: All 65 publications 25 publications in selected types All 25 journal articles
Other center views: All 191 publications 97 publications in selected types All 94 journal articles

Type Citation Sub Project Document Sources
Journal Article Allen R, Box M, Liu L-JS, Larson TV. A cost-effective weighing chamber for particulate matter filters. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association 2001;51(12):1650-1653. R827355 (2001)
R827355 (Final)
R827355C003 (2001)
R827355C003 (Final)
R827355C008 (Final)
  • Abstract from PubMed
  • Full-text: Entrepreneur Full Text
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  • Journal Article Goswami E, Larson T, Lumley T, Liu L-JS. Spatial characteristics of fine particulate matter: identifying representative monitoring locations in Seattle, Washington. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association 2002;52(3):324-333. R827355 (2004)
    R827355 (Final)
    R827355C003 (2001)
    R827355C003 (Final)
  • Abstract from PubMed
  • Other: University of Basel PDF
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  • Journal Article Liu L-JS, Slaughter JC, Larson TV. Comparison of light scattering devices and impactors for particulate measurements in indoor, outdoor, and personal environments. Environmental Science & Technology 2002;36(13):2977-2986. R827355 (2004)
    R827355 (Final)
    R827355C003 (2001)
    R827355C003 (2002)
    R827355C003 (Final)
    R827355C008 (Final)
  • Abstract from PubMed
  • Full-text: ACS Publications Full Text
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  • Other: ACS Publications PDF
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  • Journal Article Quintana PJE, Valenzia JR, Delfino RJ, Liu L-JS. Monitoring of 1-min personal particulate matter exposures in relation to voice-recorded time-activity data. Environmental Research 2001;87(3):199-213. R827355 (2004)
    R827355 (Final)
    R827355C003 (2001)
    R827355C003 (Final)
  • Abstract from PubMed
  • Full-text: Science Direct Full Text
    Exit EPA Disclaimer
  • Other: Science Direct PDF
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  • Supplemental Keywords:

    ambient particles, fine particles, combustion, health, exposure, biostatistics, susceptibility. , Air, Geographic Area, Scientific Discipline, Health, RFA, Susceptibility/Sensitive Population/Genetic Susceptibility, indoor air, Risk Assessments, genetic susceptability, Northwest, Health Risk Assessment, Epidemiology, air toxics, Atmospheric Sciences, Biochemistry, particulate matter, Environmental Chemistry, State, aerosols, exposure assessment, incineration, California (CA), PAHs, exposure and effects, ambient air quality, cardiovascular disease, health effects, hydrocarbons, indoor air quality, inhalation, mortality, allergens, air quality, ambient air, cardiopulmonary response, fine particles, hazardous air pollutants, atmospheric aerosols, cardiopulmonary responses, human health risk, particle exposure, mortality studies, air pollutants, biostatistics, human health effects, particulates, PM 2.5, sensitive populations, toxicology, ambient particle health effects, air pollution, atmospheric chemistry, children, PM10, stratospheric ozone, Seattle, Washington, exposure, human susceptibility, ambient aerosol, asthma, health risks, human exposure, Human Health Risk Assessment, morbidity, animal model, particle transport

    Progress and Final Reports:
    1999 Progress Report
    2000 Progress Report
    Original Abstract
    2002 Progress Report
    2003 Progress Report
    2004 Progress Report
    Final Report


    Main Center Abstract and Reports:
    R827355    Airborne PM - Northwest Research Center for Particulate Air Pollution and Health

    Subprojects under this Center: (EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
    R827355C001 Epidemiologic Study of Particulate Matter and Cardiopulmonary Mortality
    R827355C002 Health Effects
    R827355C003 Personal PM Exposure Assessment
    R827355C004 Characterization of Fine Particulate Matter
    R827355C005 Mechanisms of Toxicity of Particulate Matter Using Transgenic Mouse Strains
    R827355C006 Toxicology Project -- Controlled Exposure Facility
    R827355C007 Health Effects Research Core
    R827355C008 Exposure Core
    R827355C009 Statistics and Data Core
    R827355C010 Biomarker Core
    R827355C011 Oxidation Stress Makers

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    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.


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