Health Risks of Indoor Exposure to
Particulate Matter
WORKSHOP SUMMARY
David A. Butler, Guru Madhavan, and Joe Alper, Rapporteurs
Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice
Health and Medicine Division
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
www.nap.edu
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This activity was supported by the Contract No. EP-C-14-005/0006 between the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-44362-3
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-44362-8
Digital Object Identifier: 10.17226/23531
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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Health risks of indoor exposure to particulate matter: Workshop summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23531.
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PLANNING COMMITTEE ON THE HEALTH RISKS OF INDOOR
EXPOSURE TO PARTICULATE MATTER WORKSHOP1
WILLIAM NAZAROFF (Chair), Daniel Tellep Distinguished Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
TERRY BRENNAN, President, Camroden Associates, Inc.
RICHARD CORSI, Chair and Professor, Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin
HOWARD KIPEN, Professor and Director of Clinical Research and Occupational Medicine, Department of Environmental & Occupational Health, Rutgers School of Public Health, Piscataway, New Jersey
TIINA REPONEN, Professor, Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and Visiting Professor, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Kuopio, Finland
Staff
DAVID A. BUTLER, Scholar
GURU MADHAVAN, Senior Program Officer
ANNA MARTIN, Senior Program Assistant
HOPE HARE, Administrative Assistant
DORIS ROMERO, Financial Associate
ROSE MARIE MARTINEZ, Senior Director, Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice
REBECCA G. MORGAN, Senior Research Librarian
Consultant
JOE ALPER, Science Writer
__________________
1 The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s planning committees are solely responsible for organizing the workshop, identifying topics, and selecting speakers. The responsibility for the published workshop summary rests with the workshop rapporteurs and the institution.
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Reviewers
This workshop summary has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published workshop summary as sound as possible and to ensure that the workshop summary meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this workshop summary:
George Gray, George Washington University
Petros Koutrakis, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Barbara Turpin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Mark J. Utell, University of Rochester Medical Center
Lance Wallace, formerly U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and National Institute of Standards and Technology
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they did not see the final draft of the workshop summary before its release. The review of this workshop summary was overseen by Linda McCauley, Emory University. She was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this workshop summary was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this workshop summary rests entirely with the rapporteurs and the institution.
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Contents
EPA Indoor Environments Division
2 SOURCES OF INDOOR PARTICULATE MATTER
Indoor Exposures to Outdoor Particulate Matter
Indoor Sources of Airborne Allergens and Smoke
Particle Resuspension in Indoor Environments
3 PARTICLE DYNAMICS AND CHEMISTRY
A Building Science Perspective on Particle Size Dynamics and Indoor Concentration
Composition of Indoor PM and the Influence of SVOC Partitioning
4 CHARACTERIZING INDOOR EXPOSURE LEVELS
PM2.5 Exposure Characterization Provides Insights into Sources and Transformations
Socioeconomic Determinants of Indoor PM Exposure
Indoor Particle Mitigation with Filtration
Methods and Approaches for Controlling Exposure to Biological Aerosols
Mitigating Particle Exposure in Low-Socioeconomic Households
6 DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY OF DAY 1
Indoor PM and Cardiovascular Health
Ambient PM and Adverse Birth Outcomes
Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders
8 INTERVENTIONS AND RISK COMMUNICATION
The Challenge of Communicating Indoor PM Risk
Empowering People to Reduce Indoor PM Exposures
What Could Be Learned from a Benchmark Study
Figures and Tables
FIGURES
2-1 Experimental data distribution of indoor/outdoor particle ratios from 77 studies
2-4 Two-week average infiltration factors for PM2.5 in seven U.S. cities and overall
2-6 Sizes of different types of airborne allergens and PM from smoke
2-7 Emission rates of various sources of indoor PM from selected studies
3-1 The location and effectiveness of portable air cleaners in removing indoor PM levels
3-2 Air exchange rate in an unoccupied building over the course of 1 week
3-3 Decreasing efficiency of an air filter over time
3-4 Typical chemical composition of indoor air by weight percent of PM2.5
3-5 Aerosol mass spectrometry data showing the composition of indoor and outdoor PM
4-1 Indoor and outdoor PM2.5 concentrations and compositions from homes in Elizabeth, New Jersey
4-9 Time spent in various microenvironments as a function of age and home location
4-10 Real-time PM2.5 levels in a smoker’s housing unit and adjacent unoccupied unit
5-1 Particle removal effectiveness as a function of filter efficiency
5-2 Particle removal efficiency by filters of different MERV ratings
5-3 Size ranges for different types of bioaerosol particles
5-4 The effect of air sealing on PM2.5 infiltration
7-1 Global public health burdens attributable to 20 leading risk factors in 2010
7-2 Biological pathways linking PM exposure with cardiovascular diseases
7-4 Effects of PM exposure on the central nervous system
8-1 Risk perception factors influencing public concern
8-2 The Planned Risk Information Seeking Model
TABLES
2-1 Selected Indoor UFP Emission Rates for Combustion and Non-Combustion Sources in Homes
4-1 Drivers of Exposure Disparities in Indoor Environments
5-1 Characteristics of Continuously Operating HVAC and High-Efficiency Standalone Filters
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Acronyms and Abbreviations
3D | three-dimensional |
AER | air exchange rate |
ASHRAE | American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers |
EPA | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |
Finf | infiltration factor |
FPR | filter performance rating |
HEPA | high-efficiency particulate air/arrestor |
HVAC | heating, ventilating, and air conditioning |
IAQ | indoor air quality |
MERV | minimum efficiency reporting value |
MPR | micro-particle performance rating |
NAAQS | National Ambient Air Quality Standards |
P | penetration factor |
PM | particulate matter |
PM2.5 | particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (fine particles) |
PM10 | particles 2.5 to 10 micrometers in diameter (coarse particles) |
qPCR | qualitative polymerase chain reaction |
RIOPA | Relationship of Indoor, Outdoor, and Personal Air (study) |
SOA | secondary organic aerosol |
SVOC | semivolatile organic compound |
UFP | ultrafine particle, particle less than 0.1 micrometers in diameter |
UV | ultraviolet |