Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; Also at: School of Geography Earth and Environmental Science, University of Birmingham, UK.
Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Environ Res. 2021 Jun;197:111114. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111114. Epub 2021 Apr 2.
Particle radioactivity (PR) exposure has been linked to adverse health effects. PR refers to the presence of α- and β-emitting radioisotopes attached to fine particulate matter (PM). This study investigated sources contributing to indoor PM gross α- and β-radioactivity levels. We measured activity from long-lived radon progeny radionuclides from archived PM samples collected in 340 homes in Massachusetts during the period 2006-2010. We analyzed the data using linear mixed effects models and positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis. Indoor PM gross α-activity levels were correlated with sulfur (S), iron (Fe), bromine (Br), vanadium (V), sodium (Na), lead (Pb), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), silicon (Si), zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), titanium (Ti), radon (Rn) and black carbon (BC) concentrations (p <0.05). Indoor PM β-activity was correlated with S, As, antimony (Sb), Pb, Br and BC. We identified four indoor PM sources: outdoor air pollution (62%), salt aerosol source (14%), fireworks and environmental tobacco smoke (7%) and indoor mixed dust (17%). Outdoor air pollution was the most significant contributor to indoor PM α- and β-activity levels. The contributions of this source were during the summer months and when windows were open. Indoor mixed dust was also found to contribute to PM α-activity. PM α-activity was further associated with radon during winter months, showing radon's important role as an indoor source of ionizing radiation.
粒子放射性（PR）暴露与健康不良影响有关。PR 是指附着在细颗粒物（PM）上的α-和β-放射性同位素的存在。本研究调查了导致室内 PM 总α-和β-放射性水平的来源。我们测量了 2006-2010 年期间在马萨诸塞州 340 户家庭中收集的存档 PM 样本中长寿命氡子体放射性核素的活性。我们使用线性混合效应模型和正定矩阵因子（PMF）分析来分析数据。室内 PM 总α-活性水平与硫（S）、铁（Fe）、溴（Br）、钒（V）、钠（Na）、铅（Pb）、钾（K）、钙（Ca）、硅（Si）、锌（Zn）、砷（As）、钛（Ti）、氡（Rn）和黑碳（BC）浓度相关（p<0.05）。室内 PM β-活性与 S、As、锑（Sb）、Pb、Br 和 BC 相关。我们确定了四个室内 PM 来源：室外空气污染（62%）、盐气溶胶源（14%）、烟花和环境烟草烟雾（7%）和室内混合灰尘（17%）。室外空气污染是室内 PM α-和β-活性水平的最重要贡献者。该来源的贡献在夏季和窗户打开时最大。室内混合灰尘也被发现对 PM α-活性有贡献。PM α-活性在冬季与氡进一步相关，表明氡作为室内电离辐射源的重要作用。
