Estimating separately personal exposure to ambient and nonambient particulate matter for epidemiology and risk assessment: why and how.
This paper discusses the legal and scientific reasons for separating personal exposure to PM into ambient and nonambient components. It then demonstrates by several examples how well-established models and data typically obtained in exposure field studies can be used to estimate both individual and community average exposure to ambient-generated PM (ambient PM outdoors plus ambient PM that has infiltrated indoors), indoor-generated PM, and personal activity PM. Ambient concentrations are not highly correlated with personal exposure to nonambient PM or total PM but are highly correlated with personal exposure to ambient-generated PM. Therefore, ambient concentrations may be used in epidemiology as an appropriate surrogate for personal exposure to ambient-generated PM. Suggestions are offered as to how exposure to ambient-generated PM may be obtained and used in epidemiology and risk assessment.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA. wilson.william@epa.gov
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D000397:Air Pollution / Q000032:analysis*; D004777:Environment; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D006801:Humans; D010316:Particle Size; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013997:Time Factors