Abstract
Epidemiologists have observed higher risks for exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) in the summer than in other seasons. This increased risk may be partly due to seasonal behaviour and higher exposures to indoor PM in the summer in relation to outdoor pollutant levels during winter when windows are kept closed and less time is spent outdoors. In this report, we analyse data from six European studies, based on three different methods of estimating outdoor to indoor infiltration factors, with the aim of characterizing the geographical and seasonal patterns of PM infiltration. The highest infiltration levels were observed for the summer in both a European combined dataset consisting of 382 observations of the average PM2.5 infiltration factor for 1 day to 2weeks in regional data sets for Northern, Central and Southern Europe as well as for all ten cities individually. Th lowest values were observed for the winter, with spring and autumn displaying intermediate values. In all datasets and cities, the variability between residences and days within each season was much higher than the seasonal trend. PM10 data were available from two studies, revealing that the PM10 infiltration factors ranged from 70 to 92% of the corresponding PM2.5 values. Some differences between the studies may be associated with the study designs and applied methods of determining the infiltration factor. The ratio of summer to winter PM2.5 infiltration ranged from 1.3 in Rome to 2.3 in Helsinki, and the corresponding regional ratio ranged from 1.5 in Central Europe to 1.8 in Northern and Southern Europe. It is suggested that similar differences can be expected in epidemiological concentration–response relationships due to the modification in seasonal exposure associated with buildings and time spent indoors.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen R, Larson T, Sheppard L, Wallace L, Liu LJS (2003) Use of real-time light scattering data to estimate the contribution of infiltrated and indoor-generated particles to indoor air. Environ Sci Technol 37(16):3484–3492
Bell ML, Ebisu K, Peng RD, Walker J, Samet JM, Zeger SL, Dominici F (2008) Seasonal and regional short-term effects of fine particles on hospital admissions in 202 US Counties, 1999–2005. Am J Epidemiol 168(11):1301–1310. doi:10.1093/aje/kwn252
Bennett DH, Koutrakis P (2006) Determining the infiltration of outdoor particles in the indoor environment using a dynamic model. J Aerosol Sci 37:766–785
Cattani G, Cusano MC, Inglessis M, Settimo G, Stacchini G, Ziemacki G, Marconi A (2003) Misure di materiale particellari PM10 e PM2.5 a Roma: confronti indoor/outdoor (In Italian). Ann Ist Super Sanità 39(3):357–364. Available at: http://www.iss.it/publ/anna/2003/3/393357.pdf. Accessed 2 Feb 2009
Dockery DW, Spengler JD (1981) Indoor-outdoor relationships of respirable sulfates and particles. Atmos Environ 15:335–343
Fondelli MC, Gasparrini A, Mallone S, Chellini E, Cenni I, Nava S, Grechi D, Yli-Tuomi T, Jantunen M (2006) The effect of traffic emission on personal PM2.5 exposure. Epidemiology 17(6):S58
Hänninen O, Jantunen M (2007) Response to findings on association between temperature and dose-response coefficient of inhalable particles (PM10). J Epidemiol Community Health 61(9):838
Hänninen OO, Lebret E, Ilacqua V, Katsouyanni K, Künzli N, Srám RJ, Jantunen MJ (2004a) Infiltration of ambient PM2.5 and levels of indoor generated non-ETS PM2.5 in residences of four European cities. Atmos Environ 38(37):6411–6423
Hänninen OO, Alm S, Katsouyanni K, Künzli N, Maroni M, Nieuwenhuijsen MJ, Saarela K, Srám RJ, Zmirou D, Jantunen MJ (2004b) The EXPOLIS Study: implications for exposure research and environmental policy in Europe. J Expo Anal Environ Epidemiol 14:440–456
Hoek G, Kos G, Harrison R, de Hartog J, Meliefste K, ten Brink H, Katsouyanni K, Karakatsani A, Lianou M, Kotronarou A, Kavouras I, Pekkanen J, Vallius M, Kulmala M, Puustinen A, Thomas S, Meddings C, Ayres J, van Wijnen J, Hameri K (2008) Indoor–outdoor relationships of particle number and mass in four European cities. Atmos Environ 42:156–169
Hollander AEM de, Melse JM, Lebret E, Kramers PGN (1999) An aggregate public health indicator to represent the impact of multiple environmental exposures. Epidemiology 10(5):606–617
Hystad P, Setton E, Allen R, Keller P, Brauer M (2009) Modeling residential fine particulate matter infiltration for exposure assessment. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 19(6):570–579
Janssen NAH, Schwarz J, Zanobetti A, Suh H (2002) Air conditioning and source-specific particles as modifiers of the effect of PM10 on hospital admissions for heart and lung disease. Environ Health Perspect 110:43–49
Jantunen MJ, Hänninen OO, Katsouyanni K, Knöppel H, Künzli N, Lebret E, Maroni M, Saarela K, Srám RJ, Zmirou D (1998) Air pollution exposure in European cities: the EXPOLIS-study. J Expo Anal Environ Epidemiol 8(4):495–518
Koistinen KJ, Hänninen OO, Rotko T, Edwards RD, Moschandreas D, Jantunen MJ (2001) Behavioral and environmental determinants of personal exposures to PM2.5 in EXPOLIS-Helsinki, Finland. Atmos Environ 35(14):2473–2481
Long CM, Suh HH, Catalano PJ, Koutrakis P (2001) Using time- and size-resolved particulate data to quantify indoor penetration and deposition behavior. Environ Sci Technol 35(10):2089–2099
Mathys P, Stern WB, Oglesby L, Braun-Fahrländer C, Ackermann-Liebrich U, Jantunen M, Künzli N (2001) Elemental analysis of airborne particulate matter by ED-XRF within the European EXPOLIS study. ICP Inf Newsl 27(3):29–34
Meng QY, Turpin BJ, Lee JH, Polidory A, Weisel CP, Morandi M, Colome S, Zhang J, Stock T (2007) How does infiltration behavior modify the composition of ambient PM2.5 in indoor spaces? An analysis of RIOPA data. Environ Sci Technol 41:7315–7321
Meng QY, Spector D, Colome S, Turpin B (2009) Determinants of indoor and personal exposure to PM2.5 of indoor and outdoor origin during the RIOPA study. Atmos Environ 43(36):5750–5758. doi: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2009.07.066
Molnár P, Johannesson S, Boman J, Barregård L, Sällsten G (2006) Personal exposures and indoor, residential outdoor, and urban background levels of fine particle trace elements in the general population. J Environ Monit 8(5):543–551
Molnár P, Bellander T, Sällsten G, Boman J (2007) Indoor and outdoor concentrations of PM2.5 trace elements at homes, preschools and schools in Stockholm, Sweden. J Environ Monit 9(4):348–357
Nawrot TS, Torfs R, Fierens F, De Henauw S, Hoet PH, Van Kersschaever G, De Backer G, Nemery B (2007) Stronger associations between daily mortality and winter: evidence from a heavily polluted region in fine particulate air pollution in summer than in Western Europe. J Epidemiol Community Health 61:146–149
Ren C, Williams GM, Tong S (2006) Does particulate matter modify cardiorespiratory diseases? Environ Health Perspect 114(11):1690–1696
Rotko T, Oglesby L, Künzli N, Jantunen M (2000) Population sampling in European air pollution exposure study, EXPOLIS: comparisons between the cities and representativity of the samples. J Expo Anal Environ Epidemiol 10(4):355–364
Samoli E, Analitis A, Touloumi G, Schwartz J, Anderson HR, Sunyer J, Bisanti L, Zmirou D, Vonk JM, Pekkanen J, Goodman P, Paldy A, Schindler C, Katsouyanni K (2005) Estimating the exposure–response relationships between particulate matter and mortality within the APHEA multicity project. Environ Health Perspect 113:88–95. doi:10.1289/ehp. 7387
Stafoggia M, Schwartz J, Forastiere F, Perucci CA, the SISTI Group (2008) Does temperature modify the association between air pollution and mortality? A multicity case-crossover analysis in Italy. Am J Epidemiol 167(12):1476–1485. doi:10.1093/aje/kwn074
Watkiss P, Pye S, Holland M (2005) CAFÉ CBA: baseline analysis 2000 to 2020. AEAT/ED51014/Baseline Scenarios Issue 5. AEA Technology Environment, Oxon. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/archives/air/cafe/activities/pdf/cba_baseline_results2000_2020.pdf
Welty LJ, Zeger SL (2005) Are the acute effects of particulate matter on mortality in the national morbidity, mortality, and air pollution study the result of inadequate control for weather and season? A sensitivity analysis using flexible distributed lag models. Am J Epidemiol 162(1):80–88
WHO (2003) World health report 2002: reducing risks, promoting healthy life. WHO, Geneva
WHO (2006) Health effects and risks of transport systems: the HEARTS project. WHO, Copenhagen. Available at: http://www.euro.who.int/document/e88772.pdf. Accessed 19 Nov 2008
Wilson WE, Brauer M (2006) Estimation of ambient and non-ambient components of particulate matter exposure from a personal monitoring panel study. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 16:264–274
Wilson WE, Mage DT, Grant LD (2000) Estimating separately personal exposure to am-bient and nonambient particulate matter for epidemiology and risk assessment: why and how. J Air Waste Manage Assoc 50(7):1167–1183
Acknowledgements
This work has been supported by EU Contracts FP7-ENV-2009-1-243406 (TRANSPHORM), EVK4-CT-2002-00097 (FUMAPEX) and N ENV4-CT96-0202 (EXPOLIS; DG12-DTEE), Academy of Finland Contracts 133792 (PM Sizex), 36586, 40835 and 42610, and intramural funding by THL. RUPIOH was funded by the European Union Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources programme, contract QLRT-2001-00452. The Swedish work was supported by the Swedish National Air Pollution and Health Effects Programme (SNAP) and the Swedish Environment Protection Agency.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hänninen, O., Hoek, G., Mallone, S. et al. Seasonal patterns of outdoor PM infiltration into indoor environments: review and meta-analysis of available studies from different climatological zones in Europe. Air Qual Atmos Health 4, 221–233 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-010-0076-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-010-0076-5