title: Chronic exposure to odorous chemicals in residential areas and effects on human psychosocial health: dose-response relationships.
abstract: Perceived air pollution, including environmental odor pollution, is known to be an environmental stressor that affects individuals' psychosocial health and well-being. However, very few studies have been able to quantify exposure-response associations based on individual-specific residential exposures to a proxy gas and to examine the mechanisms underlying these associations. In this study, individual-specific exposures in non-urban residential environments during 2005-2010 on a gas released from animal biodegradable wastes (ammonia, NH3) were calculated by the Danish Eulerian long-range transport model and the local-scale transport deposition model. We used binomial and multinomial logistic regression and mediation analyses to examine the associations between average exposures and questionnaire-based data on psychosocial responses, after controlling for person-specific covariates. About 45% of the respondents were annoyed by residential odor pollution. Exposures were associated with annoyance (adjusted odds ratio [ORadj]=3.54, 95% confidence interval [CI]=2.33-5.39), health risk perception (ORadj=4.94; 95% CI=1.95-12.5) and behavioral interference (ORadj=3.28; 95% CI=1.77-6.11), for each unit increase in loge(NH3 exposure). Annoyance was a strong mediator in exposure-behavior interference and exposure-health risk perception relationships (81% and 44% mediation, respectively). Health risk perception did not play a mediating role in exposure-annoyance or exposure-behavioral interference relationships. This is the first study to provide a quantitative estimation of the dose-response associations between ambient NH3 exposures and psychosocial effects caused by odor pollution in non-urban residential outdoor environments. It further shows that these effects are both direct and mediated by other psychosocial responses. The results support the use of NH3 as a proxy gas of air pollution from animal biodegradable wastes in epidemiologic studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology and Environmental Technology, Faculty of Engineering, University of Southern Denmark, Niels Bohrs Alle, 1, DK-5230, Odense M, Denmark. Electronic address: vbv@kbm.sdu.dk.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Blanes-Vidal
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, Research Unit of General Practice, University of Southern Denmark, J.B. Winsløws Vej 9A, DK-5000 Odense C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jesper
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bælum
authors.affiliation: Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute, Faculty of Engineering, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark.
authors.forename: Esmaeil S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Nadimi
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark.
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Løfstrøm
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology and Environmental Technology, Faculty of Engineering, University of Southern Denmark, Niels Bohrs Alle, 1, DK-5230, Odense M, Denmark.
authors.forename: Lars P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Christensen
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006798:Housing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D016017:Odds Ratio; D009812:Odorants / Q000032:analysis*; D012044:Regression Analysis
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants
keywords: Air pollution exposure; Dose–response; Health; Nuisance; Slurry; Waste