Air pollution in moderately polluted urban areas: How does the definition of "neighborhood" impact exposure assessment?
Environmental health studies commonly quantify subjects' pollution exposure in their neighborhood. How this neighborhood is defined can vary, however, leading to different approaches to quantification whose impacts on exposure levels remain unclear. We explore the relationship between neighborhood definition and exposure assessment. NO2, benzene, PM10 and PM2.5 exposure estimates were computed in the vicinity of 10,825 buildings using twelve exposure assessment techniques reflecting different definitions of "neighborhood". At the city scale, its definition does not significantly influence exposure estimates. It does impact levels at the building scale, however: at least a quarter of the buildings' exposure estimates for a 400 m buffer differ from the estimated 50 m buffer value (±1.0 μg/m(3) for NO2, PM10 and PM2.5; and ±0.05 μg/m(3) for benzene). This variation is significantly related to the definition of neighborhood. It is vitally important for investigators to understand the impact of chosen assessment techniques on exposure estimates.
Laboratoire Chrono-environnement, UMR6249, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Bourgogne/Franche-Comté, France. Electronic address: quentin.tenailleau@univ-fcomte.fr.
Quentin M
QM
Tenailleau
Laboratoire Chrono-environnement, UMR6249, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Bourgogne/Franche-Comté, France; Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire de Besançon, France.
Frédéric
F
Mauny
Laboratoire ThéMA, UMR6049, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Bourgogne/Franche-Comté, France.
Daniel
D
Joly
AASQA Atmo Franche-Comté, France.
Stéphane
S
François
Laboratoire Chrono-environnement, UMR6249, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Bourgogne/Franche-Comté, France; Laboratoire ThéMA, UMR6049, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Bourgogne/Franche-Comté, France.
Nadine
N
Bernard
D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000032:analysis*; D002947:Cities; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014504:Urban Health
D000393:Air Pollutants
Environmental exposure assessment techniques; Living neighborhood; Multiple-exposure; Outdoor air pollution; Urban environmental parameters