Consequences of changing Canadian activity patterns since the COVID-19 pandemic include increased residential radon gas exposure for younger people

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has produced widespread behaviour changes that shifted how people split their time between different environments, altering health risks. Here, we report an update of North American activity patterns before and after pandemic onset, and implications to radioactive radon gas exposure, a leading cause of lung cancer. We surveyed 4009 Canadian households home to people of varied age, gender, employment, community, and income. Whilst overall time spent indoors remained unchanged, time in primary residence increased from 66.4 to 77% of life (+ 1062 h/y) after pandemic onset, increasing annual radiation doses from residential radon by 19.2% (0.97 mSv/y). Disproportionately greater changes were experienced by younger people in newer urban or suburban properties with more occupants, and/or those employed in managerial, administrative, or professional roles excluding medicine. Microinfluencer-based public health messaging stimulated health-seeking behaviour amongst highly impacted, younger groups by > 50%. This work supports re-evaluating environmental health risks modified by still-changing activity patterns.

Rural communities experience higher radon exposure versus urban areas, potentially due to drilled groundwater well annuli acting as unintended radon gas migration conduits

“…Based on Statistics Canada data, 17.8% of the Canadian population (6.6 million people in 2021) lived in a community of less than 1000 people (including isolated properties such as farm residences). Our study cohort encompassed 42,051 households who provided building, demographic, and radon test data to the ‘ Evict Radon National Study ’, a publicly funded project led by investigators at multiple Canadian universities 19 – 21 , 29 – 31 , 58 . All radon level outcomes were from alpha track style radon tests conducted for an average of 124.2 days and performed by citizen scientist participants with oversight of the study team.…”

“…At a population and individual level, radon exposure arises from a complex convergence of geologic, built environment, demographic, lifestyle, and behavioural factors 19 – 21 , 29 – 36 . In Canada, evolving building practices over the 20th to 21st century have increasingly and unintentionally captured, contained, and concentrated alpha radiation emitting radionuclides from radon within the residential built environment to unnaturally high and unsafe levels 29 , 31 , 37 .…”

“…In Canada, evolving building practices over the 20th to 21st century have increasingly and unintentionally captured, contained, and concentrated alpha radiation emitting radionuclides from radon within the residential built environment to unnaturally high and unsafe levels 29 , 31 , 37 . Radiation doses from radon inhalation are also a function of decision making factors and socioeconomics relating to radon awareness, testing, and reduction (i.e., how fast an individual is able to understand and reduce radon exposure as a personal risk factor) 20 , 21 , 30 , 38 , 39 , as well as lifestyle factors such as occupation that dictate activity patterns (i.e., the amount of time spent between environments) 19 – 21 . Based on current residential radon levels and activity patterns, radiation doses from radon in Canada are estimated to be at historic highs, with radon-vulnerable populations in Canada including younger people with children living at home, who are employed or in education, and/or whose occupations are more amenable to telecommuting 19 .…”

“…Radiation doses from radon inhalation are also a function of decision making factors and socioeconomics relating to radon awareness, testing, and reduction (i.e., how fast an individual is able to understand and reduce radon exposure as a personal risk factor) 20 , 21 , 30 , 38 , 39 , as well as lifestyle factors such as occupation that dictate activity patterns (i.e., the amount of time spent between environments) 19 – 21 . Based on current residential radon levels and activity patterns, radiation doses from radon in Canada are estimated to be at historic highs, with radon-vulnerable populations in Canada including younger people with children living at home, who are employed or in education, and/or whose occupations are more amenable to telecommuting 19 . In part, this phenomenon is driven by younger (those under age 45) Canadian adults being more likely to live in newer, more affordable residential buildings that have innately higher radon levels, and/or who are less able to afford radon reduction services due to comparatively lower household incomes 21 .…”

Task-Modulated Neural Responses in Scene-Selective Regions of the Human Brain

“…Further, built indoor spaces in which we spend 80 to 90% of our daily lives (Cholowsky et al, 2023; Klepeis et al, 2001) and made up of highly functional parts that are suitable for studying various behavioral goals are largely overlooked. Moreover, the stimuli representing these categories are often professional high-quality images, previously referred to by Epstein et al as “holiday snap-shot perception” (R.…”