Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Vytautas Magnus University, Vileikos Street 8, 44404, Kaunas, Lithuania.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2019 Apr;26(10):10070-10082. doi: 10.1007/s11356-019-04442-5. Epub 2019 Feb 12.
Exposure assessment is an important part in environmental epidemiology for determining the associations of environmental factors with health effects. One of the greatest challenges for personal exposure assessment is associated with peoples' mobility during the day and spatial and temporal dynamics of air pollution. In this study, the impact of PM (particulate matter less than 10 μm) on allergy risk among adults was assessed using objective methods of exposure assessment. The primary objective of the present study was to estimate personal exposure to PM based on individual daily movement patterns. Significant differences between the concentration of PM in different microenvironments (MEs) and personal exposure to PM were determined. Home exposure accounted for the largest part of PM exposure. Thirty-five percent of PM exposure was received in other non-home MEs. Allergy risk increased significantly with increasing exposure to PM. Adults exposed to the highest levels of PM exposure had a twice-higher risk of allergies than adults exposed to the lowest levels of PM exposure. The study results have practical relevance for exposure assessment to environmental factors and its impact on health effects.
暴露评估是环境流行病学中的一个重要部分，用于确定环境因素与健康影响之间的关联。个人暴露评估面临的最大挑战之一与人们白天的移动性以及空气污染的时空动态有关。在这项研究中，使用客观的暴露评估方法评估了 PM（小于 10μm 的颗粒物）对成年人过敏风险的影响。本研究的主要目的是根据个人的日常活动模式来估算个人的 PM 暴露量。不同微环境（ME）中 PM 浓度和个人 PM 暴露量之间存在显著差异。家庭暴露占 PM 暴露的最大部分。35%的 PM 暴露是在其他非家庭 ME 中接收的。随着 PM 暴露量的增加，过敏风险显著增加。暴露于最高水平 PM 暴露的成年人患过敏的风险比暴露于最低水平 PM 暴露的成年人高两倍。研究结果对环境因素暴露评估及其对健康影响具有实际意义。
