title: Modeling geographic and demographic variability in residential concentrations of environmental tobacco smoke using national data sets.
abstract: Despite substantial attention toward environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure, previous studies have not provided adequate information to apply broadly within community-scale risk assessments. We aim to estimate residential concentrations of particulate matter (PM) from ETS in sociodemographic and geographic subpopulations in the United States for the purpose of screening-level risk assessment. We developed regression models to characterize smoking using the 2006-7 Current Population Survey--Tobacco Use Supplement, and linked these with air exchange models using the 2007 American Housing Survey. Using repeated logistic and log-linear models (n = 1000), we investigated whether household variables from the 2000 United States census can predict exposure likelihood and ETS-PM concentration in exposed households. We estimated a mean ETS-PM concentration of 16 μg/m(3) among the 17% of homes with non-zero exposure (3 μg/m(3) overall), with substantial variability among homes. The highest exposure likelihood was in the South and Midwest regions, rural populations, and low-income households. Concentrations in exposed households were highest in the South and demonstrated a non-monotonic association with income, related to air exchange rate patterns. We provide estimates of ETS-PM concentration distributions for different subpopulations in the United States, providing a starting point for communities interested in characterizing aggregate and cumulative risks from indoor pollutants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. tchahine@post.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chahine
authors.forename: Bradley
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schultz
authors.forename: Valerie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zartarian
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Subramanian
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Spengler
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hammitt
authors.forename: Jonathan I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Levy
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003710:Demography; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D052638:Particulate Matter; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution