Assessment of Indoor Air Pollution in Homes with Infants

Abstract

Infants spend most of their indoor time at home; however, residential air quality is poorly understood. We investigated the air quality of infants’ homes in the New England area of the U.S. Participants (N = 53) were parents of infants (0–6 months) who completed telephone surveys to identify potential pollutant sources in their residence. Carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤0.5 µm (PM0.5), and total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) were measured in 10 homes over 4–7 days, and levels were compared with health-based guidelines. Pollutant levels varied substantially across homes and within homes with overall levels for some homes up to 20 times higher than for other homes. Average levels were 0.85 ppm, 663.2 ppm, 18.7 µg/m3, and 1626 µg/m3 for CO, CO2, PM0.5, and TVOCs, respectively. CO2, TVOCs, and PM0.5 levels exceeded health-based indoor air quality guidelines. Survey results suggest that nursery renovations and related potential pollutant sources may be associated with differences in urbanicity, income, and presence of older children with respiratory ailments, which could potentially confound health studies. While there are no standards for indoor residential air quality, our findings suggest that additional research is needed to assess indoor pollution exposure for infants, which may be a vulnerable population.

Indoor air quality in green-renovated vs. non-green low-income homes of children living in a temperate region of US (Ohio)

“…They found concentrations ranging from 2,000 to 56,000 count/cm 3 for indoor air in schools of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. Indoor total VOC levels measured in this investigation were fairly low compared to other studies conducted in the north-eastern US [210 – 6,000 μg/m 3 (Pickett et al, 2011)]. The indoor formaldehyde measurements also revealed somewhat lower levels than those reported by other investigators; Frey et al (2014) reported a median of 0.04 ppm in non-renovated homes and 0.05 ppm in renovated homes and Xiong et al (2015) reported medians ranging from <0.01 ppm – 0.04 ppm in green homes.…”

Poor Air Quality in Homes of Medicare Recipients With Diabetes

“…Although the EPA does not regulate indoor PM, these four PM statistics are within the monitor manufacturer's "action recommended for sensitive groups" or "action recommended" concentration ranges (Pickett & Bell, 2011). Re-sults of 21-day in-home air sampling showed that at the 50th percentile, the 152 homes with air sampling measurements had respirable ("Dust Control Handbook, OSHA," 2013) PM at an overall concentration of 14.0 µg/m 3 or less, and a highest 24-hour daily average concentration of 27.0 µg/m 3 .…”

Demandas de cuidado domiciliar da criança nascida exposta ao HIV na ótica da teoria ambientalista

“…Pollutants present in the house air, mainly in industrialized countries, may damage the health of babies, since they spend most of their time within the same environment. Infant health may be affected by long-term exposure to NO 2, formaldehyde and black smoke (13) . Another risk associated with the intra and peridomestic quality of air found in this research was the emission of hydrogen sulphide gas by the cesspit tank.…”