Yiin Lih-Ming, Rhoads George G, Rich David Q, Zhang Junfeng, Bai Zhipeng, Adgate John L, Ashley Peter J, Lioy Paul J
Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
Environ Health Perspect. 2002 Dec;110(12):1233-7. doi: 10.1289/ehp.021101233.
High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtered vacuum cleaners are recommended by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for cleaning lead-contaminated house dust. We performed a randomized field study to determine whether a conventional (non-HEPA) vacuum cleaner could achieve cleaning results comparable with those of a HEPA vacuum cleaner. We compared the lead loading reductions of these two vacuum cleaners in a total of 127 New Jersey homes of lead-exposed children. We used wet towelettes and a vacuum sampler to collect lead dust from carpets and upholstery before and after vacuum cleaning. The vacuum sampling data showed that the HEPA and non-HEPA vacuum cleaners resulted in 54.7% (p = 0.006) and 36.4% (p = 0.020) reductions in lead loading, respectively, when used on soiled carpets, although the overall difference in lead loading reduction between the two vacuum cleaners was not statistically significant (p = 0.293). The wipe sampling data did not show any significant lead loading reduction for either of the vacuum cleaners, suggesting that both vacuum cleaners fail to clean the surfaces of carpet effectively, considering that wipe sampling media simulate surface contact. On upholstery, the wipe sampling data showed a significant reduction in lead loading for the non-HEPA vacuum cleaner (22.2%, p = 0.047). Even with the significant reduction, the postcleaning lead loadings on upholstery were similar to those on carpets. The similar lead loading results for carpets and upholstery indicate that soiled upholstery may be as important a source of childhood lead exposure as carpets.
美国住房和城市发展部推荐使用高效空气过滤器（HEPA）的真空吸尘器来清洁受铅污染的房屋灰尘。我们进行了一项随机实地研究，以确定传统（非HEPA）真空吸尘器能否达到与HEPA真空吸尘器相当的清洁效果。我们比较了这两种真空吸尘器在新泽西州127户有铅暴露儿童家庭中的铅负荷降低情况。我们在真空清洁前后，使用湿纸巾和真空采样器从地毯和室内装饰品上收集铅尘。真空采样数据显示，在脏地毯上使用时，HEPA和非HEPA真空吸尘器分别使铅负荷降低了54.7%（p = 0.006）和36.4%（p = 0.020），尽管两种真空吸尘器在铅负荷降低方面的总体差异无统计学意义（p = 0.293）。擦拭采样数据显示，两种真空吸尘器的铅负荷均未显著降低，这表明考虑到擦拭采样介质模拟表面接触，两种真空吸尘器都未能有效清洁地毯表面。在室内装饰品上，擦拭采样数据显示非HEPA真空吸尘器的铅负荷显著降低（22.2%，p = 0.047）。即使有显著降低，清洁后室内装饰品上的铅负荷仍与地毯上的相似。地毯和室内装饰品相似的铅负荷结果表明，脏的室内装饰品可能与地毯一样，是儿童铅暴露的重要来源。
