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J Toxicol Environ Health A

Title:		Estimating volatile organic compound concentrations in selected microenvironments using time-activity and personal exposure data
Author(s):		Sexton K; Mongin SJ; Adgate JL; Pratt GC; Ramachandran G; Stock TH; Morandi MT;
Address:		"Brownsville Regional Campus, University of Texas School of Public Health, Brownsville, Texas 78520, USA. Ken.Sexton@utb.edu"
Journal Title:		J Toxicol Environ Health A
Year:		2007
Volume:		70
Issue:		5
Page Number:		465 - 476
DOI:		10.1080/15287390600870858
ISSN/ISBN:		1528-7394 (Print) 0098-4108 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Repeated measures of personal exposure to 14 volatile organic compounds (VOC) were obtained over 3 seasons for 70 healthy, nonsmoking adults living in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Matched data were also available for participants' time-activity patterns, and measured VOC concentrations outdoors in the community and indoors in residences. A novel modeling approach employing hierarchical Bayesian techniques was used to estimate VOC concentrations (posterior mode) and variability (credible intervals) in five microenvironments: (1) indoors at home; (2) indoors at work/school; (3) indoors in other locations; (4) outdoors in any location; and (5) in transit. Estimated concentrations tended to be highest in 'other' indoor microenvironments (e.g., grocery stores, restaurants, shopping malls), intermediate in the indoor work/school and residential microenvironments, and lowest in the outside and in-transit microenvironments. Model estimates for all 14 VOC were reasonable approximations of measured median concentrations in the indoor residential microenvironment. The largest predicted contributor to cumulative (2-day) personal exposure for all 14 VOC was the indoor residential environment. Model-based results suggest that indoors-at-work/school and indoors-at-other-location microenvironments were the second or third largest contributors for all VOC, while the outside-in-any-location and in-transit microenvironments appeared to contribute negligibly to cumulative personal exposure. Results from a mixed-effects model indicate that being in or near a garage increased personal exposure to o-xylene, m/p-xylene, benzene, ethylbenzene, and toluene, and leaving windows and doors at home open for 6 h or more decreased personal exposure to 13 of 14 VOC, all except trichloroethylene"
Keywords:		"Adult Air Pollutants/*analysis Bayes Theorem *Environmental Exposure Environmental Monitoring/*methods Humans Minnesota Models, Statistical Organic Chemicals/*analysis Urban Population Volatilization;"
Notes:		"MedlineSexton, Ken Mongin, Steven J Adgate, John L Pratt, Gregory C Ramachandran, Gurumurthy Stock, Thomas H Morandi, Maria T eng Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. England 2007/04/25 J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2007 Mar 1; 70(5):465-76. doi: 10.1080/15287390600870858"