| Title: | Impacts of COVID-19's restriction measures on personal exposure to VOCs and aldehydes in Taipei City |
| Author(s): | Yen YC; Ku CH; Hsiao TC; Chi KH; Peng CY; Chen YC; |
| Address: | "National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, 35 Keyan Road, Zhunan Town, Miaoli, Taiwan. Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taiwan. Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei 112, Taiwan. Department of Public Health, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, 35 Keyan Road, Zhunan Town, Miaoli, Taiwan; Department of Occupational Safety and Health, China Medical University, 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, National United University, No. 2, Lienda, Miaoli 360302, Taiwan; Research Center for Environmental Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Electronic address: yucheng@nhri.edu.tw" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163275 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1879-1026 (Electronic) 0048-9697 (Print) 0048-9697 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic provided an unprecedented natural experiment, that allowed us to investigate the impacts of different restrictive measures on personal exposure to specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and aldehydes and resulting health risks in the city. Ambient concentrations of the criteria air pollutants were also evaluated. Passive sampling for VOCs and aldehydes was conducted for graduate students and ambient air in Taipei, Taiwan, during the Level 3 warning (strict control measures) and Level 2 alert (loosened control measures) of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021-2022. Information on the daily activities of participants and on-road vehicle counts nearby the stationary sampling site during the sampling campaigns were recorded. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) with adjusted meteorological and seasonal variables were used to estimate the effects of control measures on average personal exposures to the selected air pollutants. Our results showed that ambient CO and NO(2) concentrations in relation to on-road transportation emissions were significantly reduced, which led to an increase in ambient O(3) concentrations. Exposure to specific VOCs (benzene, methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), xylene, ethylbenzene, and 1,3-butadiene) associated with automobile emissions were remarkably decreased by ~40-80 % during the Level 3 warning, resulting in 42 % and 50 % reductions of total incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) and hazard index (HI), respectively, compared with the Level 2 alert. In contrast, the exposure concentration and calculated health risks in the selected population for formaldehyde increased by ~25 % on average during the Level 3 warning. Our study improves knowledge of the influence of a series of anti-COVID-19 measures on personal exposure to specific VOCs and aldehydes and its mitigations" |
| Keywords: | Humans Aldehydes/analysis *Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis Pandemics *COVID-19/epidemiology *Air Pollutants/analysis Environmental Monitoring/methods Covid-19 Health risk Impacts and mitigation Personal exposure VOCs and aldehydes; |
| Notes: | "MedlineYen, Yu-Chuan Ku, Chun-Hung Hsiao, Ta-Chih Chi, Kai Hsien Peng, Chiung-Yu Chen, Yu-Cheng eng Netherlands 2023/04/08 Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jul 1; 880:163275. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163275. Epub 2023 Apr 5" |
