Exposure Profile to Traffic Related Pollution in Pediatric Age: A Biomonitoring Study (original) (raw)
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Biophysics and …, 2010
Evidence is needed regarding air pollutant exposure in general population. One of the most important contributors to air urban pollution is benzene, a widespread air pollutant present both in outdoor and indoor environments, and a well known human carcinogen. The aim of our study was to investigate the use of urinary (u) unmodified benzene (UB) as a biomarker of air environmental pollution for general population. u-UB and u-cotinine were measured in urine samples of 243 Italian children (5-11 years) recruited in a cross-sectional study. Urine samples were collected at the end of the day, an analytical determination of benzene was performed by solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME)-GC/MS. Analytical results were compared with data obtained from questionnaires about participants' main potential exposure factors. The main findings were that u-UB levels were influenced by secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure and urbanization of residence areas. In addition, data showed that, excluding children exposed to SHS, u-UB concentrations were about 2-fold higher in subjects living in urban areas than in those in the rural environment (medians=210.50 and 92.50 ng/L, respectively). These results were confirmed by multivariate linear regression model. In conclusion, we found that u-UB is a good biomarker of benzene exposure in general population. In addition, u-UB could be considered as a synthetic biological index for the assessment of population exposure to atmospheric pollution.
Environmental and urinary reference values as markers of exposure to hydrocarbons in urban areas
Science of The Total Environment, 1996
A study using individual dosimetry to evaluate the daily inhaled dose of sixteen aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons in three groups of primary school children, living in three Italian towns with 50 000 inhabitants or less, (Treviglio-Lombardy; Poggibonsi-Tuscany; Valenza-Piedmont) is presented. The simultaneous use of two passive samplers (radial diffusion) for each child, for a 24 h period, determined both the indoor and indoor + outdoor environmental reference concentrations. We measured the urinary levels of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes for each child and hence determined the urinary reference values for BTEX. We also considered the possibility of using benzene in urine as a biomarker of environmental exposure of the general population to this xenobiotic. We evaluated how both the environmental and biological measures were influenced by the presence of smokers in the surveyed children's houses. For the group of children living in Poggibonsi, we considered the influence of the living area and the traffic density on environmental concentrations of benzene (indoor and indoor + outdoor).
Toxics
There have been several methods employed to quantify individual-level exposure to ambient traffic-related air pollutants (TRAP). These include an individual’s residential proximity to roads, measurement of individual pollutants as surrogates or markers, as well as dispersion and land use regression (LUR) models. Hopanes are organic compounds still commonly found on ambient particulate matter and are specific markers of combustion engine primary emissions, but they have not been previously used in personal exposure studies. In this paper, children’s personal exposures to TRAP were evaluated using hopanes determined from weekly integrated filters collected as part of a personal exposure study in Windsor, Canada. These hopane measurements were used to evaluate how well other commonly used proxies of exposure to TRAP performed. Several of the LUR exposure estimates for a range of air pollutants were associated with the children’s summer personal hopane exposures (r = 0.41–0.74). However...
Science of The Total Environment, 2006
Several recent studies suggest an association between long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution and health. Most studies use indicators of exposure such as outdoor air pollution or traffic density on the street of residence. Little information is available about the validity of these measurements as an estimate of long-term personal exposure to traffic-related air pollution. In this pilot study, we assessed outdoor and personal exposure to traffic-related air pollution in children living in homes on streets with different degree of traffic intensity.
Science of The Total Environment, 2010
The aim of this work was to evaluate urinary benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m+p-xylene, o-xylene (BTEX), methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE), and naphthalene (NAP) as biomarkers of exposure to environmental pollutants. Personal air and urine samples from 108 subjects belonging to the Italian general population were compared. Urinary profiles were obtained by headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. BTEX, MTBE, ETBE and NAP median airborne exposures during a 5-h sampling were 4.0, 25.3, 3.8, 9.3, 3.4, 3.4, b 0.8, and 3.4 µg/m 3 , respectively. Meanwhile, median urinary levels, as geometric means of three determinations were: 122, 397, 74, 127, 43, 49, b 15, and 46 ng/L, respectively. Urinary benzene and toluene concentrations were 4.6-and 1.2-fold higher in smokers than in non-smokers. For most chemicals, significant positive correlations between airborne exposure (log-transformed) and the corresponding biological marker (log-transformed) were found, with Pearson's r values for correlation, ranging from 0.228 to 0.396. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the urinary level of these chemicals was influenced by personal airborne exposure, urinary creatinine, and urinary cotinine, with R 2 0.733 for benzene. Urinary chemicals are useful biomarkers of environmental exposure. Given the ease of rapidly obtaining urine samples, they represent a non-invasive alternative to blood chemical analysis. The possibility of obtaining urinary exposure profiles makes this method an appealing tool for environmental epidemiology.
Exposure of Danish children to traffic exhaust fumes
Science of The Total Environment, 1996
This exposure study addresses the validity of the exposure assessment method of an epidemiological study of traffic-related air pollution and childhood cancer. In particular, this paper concerns the question of whether the concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO,) outside the front door is a valid marker of the exposure of the child living at the address. The study includes 100 children living on streets with dense traffic in central parts of Copenhagen and 100 children living in rural areas. Preliminary results, based on 25% of the study subjects, suggest that both the outdoor NO,-concentration and the exposure of the children are two to three times higher in Copenhagen than in the rural districts. Moreover, the results suggest that the NO,-concentration outside the front door is a poor marker of the exposure of the children in Copenhagen, but a marker of some relevance for the exposure of the children in rural districts. The preliminary results must be treated with caution, as among other things, the analysis did not consider seasonal changes and indoor NO,-sources such as passive smoking. candles, and gas appliances.
Benzene exposure and the effect of traffic pollution in Copenhagen, Denmark
Atmospheric Environment, 2001
Benzene is a carcinogenic compound, which is emitted from petrol-fuelled cars and thus is found ubiquitous in all cities. As part of the project Monitoring of Atmospheric Concentrations of Benzene in European Towns and Homes (MACBETH) six campaigns were carried out in the Municipality of Copenhagen, Denmark. The campaigns were distributed over 1 year. In each campaign, the personal exposure to benzene of 50 volunteers (non-smokers living in non-smoking families) living and working in Copenhagen was measured. Simultaneously, benzene was measured in their homes and in an urban network distributed over the municipality. The Radiello di!usive sampler was applied to sample 5 days averages of benzene and other hydrocarbons. Comparison of the results with those from a BTX-monitor showed excellent agreement. The exposure and the concentrations in homes and in the urban area were found to be close to log-normal distribution. The annual averages of the geometrical mean values were 5.22, 4.30 and 2.90 g m\ for personal exposure, home concentrations and urban concentrations, respectively. Two main parameters are controlling the general level of benzene in Copenhagen: "rstly, the emission from tra$c and secondly, dispersion due to wind speed. The general level of exposure to benzene and home concentrations of benzene were strongly correlated with the outdoor level of benzene, which indicated that tra$c is an important source for indoor concentrations of benzene and for the exposure to benzene.