title: Electronic cigarettes and indoor air quality: a simple approach to modeling potential bystander exposures to nicotine.
abstract: There has been rapid growth in the use of electronic cigarettes ("vaping") in Europe, North America and elsewhere. With such increased prevalence, there is currently a debate on whether the aerosol exhaled following the use of e-cigarettes has implications for the quality of air breathed by bystanders. Conducting chemical analysis of the indoor environment can be costly and resource intensive, limiting the number of studies which can be conducted. However, this can be modelled reasonably accurately based on empirical emissions data and using some basic assumptions. Here, we present a simplified model, based on physical principles, which considers aerosol propagation, dilution and extraction to determine the potential contribution of a single puff from an e-cigarette to indoor air. From this, it was then possible to simulate the cumulative effect of vaping over time. The model was applied to a virtual, but plausible, scenario considering an e-cigarette user and a non-user working in the same office space. The model was also used to reproduce published experimental studies and showed good agreement with the published values of indoor air nicotine concentration. With some additional refinements, such an approach may be a cost-effective and rapid way of assessing the potential exposure of bystanders to exhaled e-cigarette aerosol constituents.
authors.affiliation: Imperial Tobacco Limited, Winterstoke Road, Bristol BS3 2LL, UK. stephane.colard@fr.imptob.com.
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Colard
authors.affiliation: Imperial Tobacco Limited, Winterstoke Road, Bristol BS3 2LL, UK. grant.oconnell@uk.imptob.com.
authors.forename: Grant
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: O'Connell
authors.affiliation: SEITA, Imperial Tobacco Group, 48 rue Danton, 45404 Fleury-les-Aubrais, France. thomas.verron@fr.imptob.com.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Verron
authors.affiliation: SEITA, Imperial Tobacco Group, 48 rue Danton, 45404 Fleury-les-Aubrais, France. xavier.cahours@fr.imptob.com.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cahours
authors.affiliation: Imperial Tobacco Limited, Winterstoke Road, Bristol BS3 2LL, UK. john.pritchard@uk.imptob.com.
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Pritchard
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols / Q000032:analysis; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis*; D066300:Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009538:Nicotine / Q000032:analysis*; D016273:Occupational Exposure
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants; D009538:Nicotine