title: Modeled exposure assessment via inhalation and dermal pathways to airborne semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) in residences.
abstract: Exposure to airborne semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) in indoor and outdoor environments of humans may lead to adverse health risks. Thus, we established a model to evaluate exposure to airborne SVOCs. In this model, SVOCs phase-specific concentrations were estimated by a kinetic partition model accounting for particle dynamics. The exposure pathways to airborne SVOCs included inhalation exposure to gas- and particle-phases, dermal exposure by direct gas-to-skin pathway and dermal exposure by direct particle deposition. Exposures of defined "reference people" to two typical classifications of SVOCs, one generated from both indoor and outdoor sources, represented by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and the other generated mainly from only indoor sources, represented by di 2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), were analyzed as an example application of the model. For PAHs with higher volatility, inhalation exposure to gas-phase, ranging from 6.03 to 16.4 ng/kg/d, accounted for the most of the exposure to the airborne phases. For PAHs with lower volatility, inhalation exposure to particle-phase, ranging from 1.48 to 1.53 ng/kg/d, was the most important exposure pathway. As for DEHP, dermal exposure via direct gas-to-skin pathway was 460 ng/kg/d, which was the most striking exposure pathway when the barrier effect of clothing was neglected.
authors.affiliation: Department of Building Science, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, PR China.
authors.forename: Shanshan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D003020:Clothing; D004051:Diethylhexyl Phthalate; D005260:Female; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019570:Inhalation Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis; D012867:Skin / Q000737:chemistry*; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000032:analysis*; D014835:Volatilization; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds; D004051:Diethylhexyl Phthalate