Smoking increases air pollution levels in city streets: observational and fine particulate data.
BACKGROUND
To address the paucity of research around smokefree streets, we: (i) refined existing data collection methods; (ii) expanded on the meagre previous research in this area; and (iii) compared results by differing size of urban centre.


METHODS
We refined established methods; a solo observer simultaneously observed smoking and measured fine particulate levels (PM(2.5)) on a route of shopping streets in central Lower Hutt City, New Zealand.


RESULTS
Over 33.6 h of measurement, mean fine particulate levels were 1.7 times higher when smoking was observed than when it was not (7.9 vs 4.8 μg/m(3); p=0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
Smoking appeared to be a substantive contributor to fine particulate air pollution in city streets, when compared to levels adjacent to road traffic.
Department of Public Health, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Te Tari Hauora Tumatanui, University of Otago Wellington, PO Box 7343, Wellington South, New Zealand. vimal.patel@otago.ac.nz
Vimal
V
Patel
George
G
Thomson
Nick
N
Wilson
D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D009520:New Zealand; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000032:analysis*; D014505:Urban Population
D052638:Particulate Matter; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution