Windsor, Ontario Exposure Assessment Study: Design and Methods Validation of Personal, Indoor, and Outdoor Air Pollution Monitoring

Abstract

The Windsor, Ontario Exposure Assessment Study evaluated the contribution of ambient air pollutants to personal and indoor exposures of adults and asthmatic children living in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. In addition, the role of personal, indoor, and outdoor air pollution exposures upon asthmatic children's respiratory health was assessed. Several active and passive sampling methods were applied, or adapted, for personal, indoor, and outdoor residential monitoring of nitrogen dioxide, volatile Extensive quality assurance and quality control steps were implemented, including the collocation of instruments at the National Air Pollution Surveillance site operated by Environment Canada and at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality site in Allen Park, Detroit, MI. During field sampling, duplicate and blank samples were also completed and these data are reported. In total, 50 adults and 51 asthmatic children were recruited to participate, resulting in 922 participant days of data. When comparing the methods used in the study with standard reference methods, field blanks were low and bias was acceptable, with most methods being within 20% of reference methods. Duplicates were typically within less than 10% of each other, indicating that study results can be used with confidence. This paper covers study design, recruitment, methodology, time activity diary, surveys, and quality assurance and control results for the different methods used.

Infiltration of fine particles in urban daycares

“…The DustTraks were programmed to sample every minute. Research performed elsewhere reported that side‐by‐side sampling indicated that DustTrak was highly correlated with gravimetric instrument 24 . Prior to the measurements, the two DustTraks have been factory calibrated.…”

Estimation of bias with the single‐zone assumption in measurement of residential air exchange using the perfluorocarbon tracer gas method

“…In advancing our understanding of residential air exchange and its relationship with IAQ, we must assess the errors and biases in the methods by which we measure air exchange. Several studies of air exchange rates (AERs) have been undertaken in some thousands of homes (Dodson et al., ; Gilbert et al., , ; Heroux et al., ; Hun et al., ; Weisel et al., ; Wheeler et al., ). These studies have employed the commonly used tracer gas method which employs inert gases not found in nature [perfluorinated cyclic hydrocarbon tracers (PFTs)] to determine AERs (Dietz and Cote, ; Dietz et al., ).…”

“…Health Canada (HC), in collaboration with local universities, has conducted IAQ studies in several Canadian cities over the past 9 years (Clark et al., ; Heroux et al., ; MacNeill et al., ; Wheeler et al., ). Each study represented an extensive program of IAQ measurements and AER characterization using the perfluorocarbon tracer (PFT) single‐zone method.…”

The Impact of Pollution on Children’s Health: A Call for Global Accountability and Enforcement

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