Controlled experiments measuring personal exposure to PM_2.5in close proximity to cigarette smoking

Abstract

Few measurements of exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) in close proximity to a smoker are available. Recent health studies have demonstrated an association between acute (<2 h) exposures to high concentrations of SHS and increased risk of cardiovascular and respiratory disease. We performed 15 experiments inside naturally ventilated homes and 16 in outdoor locations, each with 2-4 non-smokers sitting near a cigarette smoker. The smoker's and non-smokers' real-time exposures to PM2.5 from SHS were measured by using TSI SidePak monitors to sample their breathing zones. In 87% of the residential indoor experiments, the smoker received the highest average exposure to SHS, with PM2.5 concentrations ranging from 50-630 μg/m(3) . During the active smoking period, individual non-smokers sitting within approximately 1 m of a smoker had average SHS exposures ranging from negligible up to >160 μg/m(3) of PM2.5 . The average incremental exposure of the non-smokers was higher indoors (42 μg/m(3) , n = 35) than outdoors (29 μg/m(3) , n = 47), but the overall indoor and outdoor frequency distributions were similar. The 10-s PM2.5 averages during the smoking periods showed great variability, with multiple high concentrations of short duration (microplumes) both indoors and outdoors.

Outdoor fine and ultrafine particle measurements at six bus stops with smoking on two California arterial highways—Results of a pilot study

“…Each participant, including the smoker, wore a SidePak continuous PM 2.5 monitor to measure personal exposure, with the monitor's sampling intake probe located within 0.2 m of the person's breathing zone. An acrylic plastic holder was designed with a plastic mount, and a necklace chain worn around the neck held the monitor's intake tube in place, as described in Acevedo-Bolton et al (2013). For each participant, the intake in the breathing zone was connected by Tygon tubing (outside diameter ¼ 0.95 cm) to the SidePak monitor's inlet, and the SidePak monitor was attached by a bracket to the person's belt.…”

“…We visited six bus stops and collected more than 5000 1-sec readings at each bus stop using five to six simultaneous real-time monitors. This approach of using controlled experiments in reallife settings has been applied to other locations by Acevedo-Bolton et al (2013) and is an alternative to conducting a larger-scale field survey. In this approach, investigators have full control of many variables of interest (for example, smoking times, positions of the subjects, distances between nonsmokers and the smoker, use of sampling probes in the breathing zone).…”

“…The frequency distributions of the microplumes have been studied in indoor proximity experiments in two residences by Acevedo-Bolton et al (2012) using multiple carbon monoxide (CO) sensors with a continuous CO tracer gas point source. Microplumes of PM 2.5 have been measured close to a smoker indoors and outdoors in a companion study (Acevedo-Bolton et al, 2013). Due to the microplumes, the 1-sec PM 2.5 exposures for the first cigarette at Bus Stop E ranged from 1.1 to 4840 mg/m 3 for the smoker and from 0.9 to 388 mg/ m 3 for the person sitting next to the smoker.…”

“…Their study used a single real-time AM510 SidePak monitor (TSI, Inc., Shoreview, MN, USA) to measure PM 2.5 concentrations at fixed points at various distances from the smoker at outdoor patio cafes. Our approach was similar to the approach subsequently developed by Acevedo-Bolton et al (2013) that included multiple nonsmoking subjects along with the smoker, each wearing a realtime SidePak personal monitor with the intake probe located less than 0.2 m of their breathing zone to measure their personal exposure to PM 2.5 in indoor and outdoor locations. That study consisted of locations considerably different from the ones in the 48 present investigation, such as sitting at a card table with a smoker, sitting on a sofa in a home next to a smoker, and sitting at a park bench or picnic table with a smoker.…”

The Effects of Indoor Activities on Pollution Characteristics of Air Particles in an Office Environment

“…Many scientists investigated the effects of indoor pollution sources on indoor environment, such as smoking [8][9][10][11], vacuuming [12][13][14], and cleaning [15][16]. Smoking is one of the indoor pollution sources and greatly affects peoples' health [8][9][10][11].…”