Objectives: Children may be more exposed to certain environmental contaminants because they react with greater sensitivity and have different food intakes and breathing rate per unit of body weight compared to adults. The aim of this study was to determine general exposure factors such as skin surface area, period and frequency of exposure, and others among Korean children aged ≤ 18 years old. This study was carried out as the first of its kind in Korea.
Methods:We developed 23 recommended exposure factors for Korean children aged 0 to 18 years by reclassifying raw data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the National Statistical Information Service, as well as through investigation by experiments in the absence of related data.Results: Reflecting the activity patterns of about 9,000 children, the daily inhalation rates for long-term exposure ranged from 9.49 m 3 /day for children from birth to <2 years to 14.98 m 3 /day for children aged 16 to <18 years. The research found that Korean children spent an average of 22.21 hours indoors, 0.67 hours outdoors, and 1.12 hours in-transit every day. Young children (≤ 2 years old) spent approximately 34 more minutes outdoors on weekends than they did on weekdays.Conclusion: Various physiological variables in the human body reflect characteristics of children that can directly influence risk exposure. Therefore, the identification of general exposure factors based on Korean children is required for appropriate risk assessment.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.