V. Avula, Joyce M Cheng, M. McCormack, M. Pavelack
{"title":"Extreme temperature and storm exacerbations of pediatric asthma: evidence and prevention strategies","authors":"V. Avula, Joyce M Cheng, M. McCormack, M. Pavelack","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/acdf11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/acdf11","url":null,"abstract":"Asthma is the most common chronic disease in children and a main cause of hospitalizations, with substantial costs to patients, families, and society. Existing disparities in asthma will likely be impacted by the increasing adverse consequences of climate change and the disproportionate impact on low-income and minority communities. Increased extreme temperatures, weather events, air pollution, and allergens linked to climate change exacerbate pediatric asthma. There is a need for greater understanding of the climate change-related risk factors specifically impacting pediatric asthma exacerbations, increased attention to health disparities, and development of strategies for prevention and management. This perspective piece describes selected research on temperature and storm-related asthma exacerbations in children and includes a discussion on possible mechanisms for weather phenomena and climate change associations, research gaps, and possible solutions related to secondary prevention (figure 1).","PeriodicalId":72938,"journal":{"name":"Environmental research, health : ERH","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43945859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Early-life oxidative stress due to air pollution. A scoping review focusing on identifying potential ‘-OMICS’ biomarkers from body fluids","authors":"J. Coumans, S. Al Jaaidi","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/acdd18","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/acdd18","url":null,"abstract":"Exposure to air pollution (AP) is inevitable in daily life and an increasing number of epidemiological studies have reported that exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) is associated with adverse health outcomes. Intrauterine, childhood, and adolescence are vulnerable periods, during which PM exposure can cause molecular changes, potentially leading to changes in metabolism and development. PM-induced oxidative stress is the underlying mechanism. Biomarkers can be used as illustrative measures of PM exposure to facilitate the assessment of potential health effects and provide a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms. The purpose of this scoping review is to report -OMICS biomarkers found in body fluids that are primarily related to oxidative stress and are already used to evaluate ambient AP exposure, as well as to identify knowledge gaps. Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus databases were independently searched for all studies published between January 2013 and December 2022 that reported on -OMICS signature changes during pregnancy, childhood, and adolescence. Of the initial 757 articles, 36 met our inclusion criteria and reported on genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, lipidomic, and metabolomic biomarkers. The findings of this scoping review indicate that exposure to various ambient pollutants in early life can cause oxidative stress. Integrating biomarkers from top-down -OMICS studies in an epidemiological context may provide a clear picture of the biomarker selection process to establish a causal relationship between PM exposure and disease pathogenesis. This knowledge could lead to the conceptualization and subsequent development of novel preventative strategies.","PeriodicalId":72938,"journal":{"name":"Environmental research, health : ERH","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42214627","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Christina Xeni, R. Oliva, Farjana Jahan, R. Iqbal, A. Naser, Md. Mahbubur Rahman, L. Fleming, Matthew O'Madigan Gribble, K. Makris
{"title":"Epidemiological evidence on drinking water salinity and blood pressure: a scoping review","authors":"Christina Xeni, R. Oliva, Farjana Jahan, R. Iqbal, A. Naser, Md. Mahbubur Rahman, L. Fleming, Matthew O'Madigan Gribble, K. Makris","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/ace076","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/ace076","url":null,"abstract":"In addition to diet, drinking water can be an important contributor to the total body burden of salts. Water salinity (defined as the amount of dissolved salts in a body of water) has been associated with adverse health effects. We mapped the current research on drinking water salinity and its effects on blood pressure (BP). We aimed to identify knowledge gaps in the methodology and tools used in the epidemiological literature to address water salinity effects on BP. We performed a scoping review of epidemiological studies by searching PubMed and Web of Science databases from 1980 to 2022. Reviews, study comparisons, meta-analyses, commentaries, viewpoints, correspondence, protocols, studies in clinical settings, animal or in vitro studies, or not in English, were excluded. Epidemiologic studies including systolic/diastolic BP and/or the risk of hypertension as the main health outcome and drinking water salts (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, including electrical conductivity and total dissolved solids) as the main exposures were included. After screening 246 articles, 29 articles were retained. Most studies were conducted in Bangladesh and USA (n = 9 and n = 9, respectively). The majority of studies were cross-sectional (n = 18; 62%). The study populations were adults (55%) or children (35%) or both (10%). Only eight (28%) studies did not collect urine samples and only three studies (10%) did not record participant BP. About half of the studies (n = 15, 52%) reported a positive significant (p < 0.05) association between salts in drinking water and higher BP and/or risk of hypertension; while 24% and 24% reported non-significant (p > 0.05) and significant (p < 0.05) negative associations (with lower BP mainly attributed to higher Mg, Ca, and K (rather than Na) levels in drinking water). More longitudinal studies are warranted to investigate the impact of drinking water salinization on cardiovascular health and risk of hypertension. Under a changing climate, this may be particularly important for coastal populations, as sea level rise in combination with the overexploitation of groundwater would differentially perturb the salinity of their drinking water supplies.","PeriodicalId":72938,"journal":{"name":"Environmental research, health : ERH","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61193509","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hilary L Zetlen, Anna Stanley Lee, Lina Nurhussien, Wendy Sun, Choong-Min Kang, Antonella Zanobetti, Mary B Rice
{"title":"Personal air pollution exposure and metals in the nasal epithelial lining fluid of COPD patients.","authors":"Hilary L Zetlen, Anna Stanley Lee, Lina Nurhussien, Wendy Sun, Choong-Min Kang, Antonella Zanobetti, Mary B Rice","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/acbbe5","DOIUrl":"10.1088/2752-5309/acbbe5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sampling of the nasal epithelial lining fluid is a potential method to assess exposure to air pollution within the respiratory tract among high risk populations. We investigated associations of short- and long-term particulate matter exposure (PM) and pollution-related metals in the nasal fluid of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This study included 20 participants with moderate-to-severe COPD from a larger study who measured long-term personal exposure to PM<sub>2.5</sub> using portable air monitors and short-term PM<sub>2.5</sub> and black carbon (BC) using in-home samplers for the seven days preceding nasal fluid collection. Nasal fluid was sampled from both nares by nasosorption, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was used to determine the concentration of metals with major airborne sources. Correlations of selected elements (Fe, Ba, Ni, Pb, V, Zn, Cu) were determined within the nasal fluid. Associations between personal long-term PM<sub>2.5</sub> and seven day home PM<sub>2.5</sub> and BC exposure and nasal fluid metal concentrations were determined by linear regression. Within nasal fluid samples, concentrations of vanadium and nickel (<i>r</i> = 0.8) and lead and zinc (<i>r</i> = 0.7) were correlated. Seven day and long-term PM<sub>2.5</sub> exposure were both associated with higher levels of copper, lead, and vanadium in the nasal fluid. BC exposure was associated with higher levels of nickel in the nasal fluid. Levels of certain metals in the nasal fluid may serve as biomarkers of air pollution exposure in the upper respiratory tract.</p>","PeriodicalId":72938,"journal":{"name":"Environmental research, health : ERH","volume":"1 2","pages":"021002"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9972880/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9304547","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kathleen Moloney, Jamie Vickery, Jeremy Hess, Nicole Errett
{"title":"After the fire: A qualitative study of the role of long-term recovery organizations in addressing rural communities' post-wildfire needs.","authors":"Kathleen Moloney, Jamie Vickery, Jeremy Hess, Nicole Errett","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/acd2f7","DOIUrl":"10.1088/2752-5309/acd2f7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>U.S. wildfire activity has increased over the past several decades, disrupting the systems and infrastructure that support community health and resilience. As the cumulative burden of wildfire damage is projected to increase, understanding an effective community recovery process is critically important. Through qualitative interviews with leaders of long-term recovery organizations (LTROs), a key component of wildfire recovery, we explored barriers and facilitators to LTROs' ability to support post-wildfire needs among rural communities. Between February-May 2022, we conducted surveys and semi-structured interviews with 18 leaders from six LTROs serving rural communities in Washington, Oregon, and California impacted by wildfires between 2015-2020. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Culture of Health Framework informed the semi-structured interview guide and <i>a priori</i> codebook, to examine LTROs' ability to address post-wildfire community needs from a health equity perspective. Additional codes were added through an inductive approach, and emerging themes were identified. Our findings indicate that LTROs face many barriers in addressing community needs post-wildfire, including the policies governing access to and the slow arrival of recovery resources, the intertwined nature of community economic health and built environment restoration, and the challenge of forming a functional LTRO structure. However, participants also identified facilitators of LTROs' work, including the ability of LTROs and their government partners to adapt policies and procedures, and close collaboration with other community organizations. Factors both internal and external to the community and LTROs' organizational characteristics influence their ability to address community needs, essential to health, post-wildfire. This study's findings suggest the need for policy improvements to promote more equitable recovery resource access, that economic recovery should be a core LTRO function, and that recovery planning should be incorporated into community disaster preparedness activities. Future research should focus on LTROs' role in other contexts and in response to other disasters.</p>","PeriodicalId":72938,"journal":{"name":"Environmental research, health : ERH","volume":"1 2","pages":"021009"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10227461/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9565469","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Vijay S Limaye, Akhilesh Magal, Jaykumar Joshi, Sujit Maji, Priya Dutta, Prashant Rajput, Shyam Pingle, Prima Madan, Polash Mukerjee, Shahana Bano, Gufran Beig, Dileep Mavalankar, Anjali Jaiswal, Kim Knowlton
{"title":"Air quality and health co-benefits of climate change mitigation and adaptation actions by 2030: an interdisciplinary modeling study in Ahmedabad, India.","authors":"Vijay S Limaye, Akhilesh Magal, Jaykumar Joshi, Sujit Maji, Priya Dutta, Prashant Rajput, Shyam Pingle, Prima Madan, Polash Mukerjee, Shahana Bano, Gufran Beig, Dileep Mavalankar, Anjali Jaiswal, Kim Knowlton","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/aca7d8","DOIUrl":"10.1088/2752-5309/aca7d8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Climate change-driven temperature increases worsen air quality in places where coal combustion powers electricity for air conditioning. Climate solutions that substitute clean and renewable energy in place of polluting coal and promote adaptation to warming through reflective cool roofs can reduce cooling energy demand in buildings, lower power sector carbon emissions, and improve air quality and health. We investigate the air quality and health co-benefits of climate solutions in Ahmedabad, India-a city where air pollution levels exceed national health-based standards-through an interdisciplinary modeling approach. Using a 2018 baseline, we quantify changes in fine particulate matter (PM<sub>2.5</sub>) air pollution and all-cause mortality in 2030 from increasing renewable energy use (mitigation) and expanding Ahmedabad's cool roofs heat resilience program (adaptation). We apply local demographic and health data and compare a 2030 mitigation and adaptation (M&A) scenario to a 2030 business-as-usual (BAU) scenario (without climate change response actions), each relative to 2018 pollution levels. We estimate that the 2030 BAU scenario results in an increase of PM<sub>2.5</sub> air pollution of 4.13 <i>µ</i>g m<sup>-3</sup> from 2018 compared to a 0.11 <i>µ</i>g m<sup>-3</sup> decline from 2018 under the 2030 M&A scenario. Reduced PM<sub>2.5</sub> air pollution under 2030 M&A results in 1216-1414 fewer premature all-cause deaths annually compared to 2030 BAU. Achievement of National Clean Air Programme, National Ambient Air Quality Standards, or World Health Organization annual PM<sub>2.5</sub> Air Quality Guideline targets in 2030 results in up to 6510, 9047, or 17 369 fewer annual deaths, respectively, relative to 2030 BAU. This comprehensive modeling method is adaptable to estimate local air quality and health co-benefits in other settings by integrating climate, energy, cooling, land cover, air pollution, and health data. Our findings demonstrate that city-level climate change response policies can achieve substantial air quality and health co-benefits. Such work can inform public discourse on the near-term health benefits of mitigation and adaptation.</p>","PeriodicalId":72938,"journal":{"name":"Environmental research, health : ERH","volume":"1 2","pages":"021003"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9975964/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10853656","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Evan de Schrijver, Dominic Royé, Antonio Gasparrini, Oscar H Franco, Ana M Vicedo-Cabrera
{"title":"Exploring vulnerability to heat and cold across urban and rural populations in Switzerland.","authors":"Evan de Schrijver, Dominic Royé, Antonio Gasparrini, Oscar H Franco, Ana M Vicedo-Cabrera","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/acab78","DOIUrl":"10.1088/2752-5309/acab78","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Heat- and cold-related mortality risks are highly variable across different geographies, suggesting a differential distribution of vulnerability factors between and within countries, which could partly be driven by urban-to-rural disparities. Identifying these drivers of risk is crucial to characterize local vulnerability and design tailored public health interventions to improve adaptation of populations to climate change. We aimed to assess how heat- and cold-mortality risks change across urban, peri-urban and rural areas in Switzerland and to identify and compare the factors associated with increased vulnerability within and between different area typologies. We estimated the heat- and cold-related mortality association using the case time-series design and distributed lag non-linear models over daily mean temperature and all-cause mortality series between 1990-2017 in each municipality in Switzerland. Then, through multivariate meta-regression, we derived pooled heat and cold-mortality associations by typology (i.e. urban/rural/peri-urban) and assessed potential vulnerability factors among a wealth of demographic, socioeconomic, topographic, climatic, land use and other environmental data. Urban clusters reported larger pooled heat-related mortality risk (at 99th percentile, vs. temperature of minimum mortality (MMT)) (relative risk=1.17(95%CI:1.10;1.24, vs peri-urban 1.03(1.00;1.06), and rural 1.03 (0.99;1.08)), but similar cold-mortality risk (at 1st percentile, vs. MMT) (1.35(1.28;1.43), vs rural 1.28(1.14;1.44) and peri-urban 1.39 (1.27-1.53)) clusters. We found different sets of vulnerability factors explaining the differential risk patterns across typologies. In urban clusters, mainly environmental factors (i.e. PM<sub>2.5</sub>) drove differences in heat-mortality association, while for peri-urban/rural clusters socio-economic variables were also important. For cold, socio-economic variables drove changes in vulnerability across all typologies, while environmental factors and ageing were other important drivers of larger vulnerability in peri-urban/rural clusters, with heterogeneity in the direction of the association. Our findings suggest that urban populations in Switzerland may be more vulnerable to heat, compared to rural locations, and different sets of vulnerability factors may drive these associations in each typology. Thus, future public health adaptation strategies should consider local and more tailored interventions rather than a one-size fits all approach. size fits all approach.</p>","PeriodicalId":72938,"journal":{"name":"Environmental research, health : ERH","volume":"1 2","pages":"025003-25003"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7614344/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9559325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Association between traffic-related air pollution exposure and fertility-assisted births.","authors":"Daphne Thampy, Verónica M Vieira","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/accd10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/accd10","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Previous studies have suggested that traffic-related air pollution is associated with adverse fertility outcomes, such as reduced fecundability and subfertility. The purpose of this research is to investigate if PM<sub>2.5</sub> exposure prior to conception or traffic-related exposures (traffic density and distance to nearest major roadway) at birth address is associated with fertility-assisted births. We obtained all live and still births from the Massachusetts state birth registry with an estimated conception date between January 2002 through December 2008. All births requiring fertility drugs or assisted reproductive technology were identified as cases. We randomly selected 2000 infants conceived each year to serve as a common control group. PM<sub>2.5</sub> exposure was assessed using 4 km spatial satellite remote sensing, meteorological and land use spatiotemporal models at geocoded birth addresses for the year prior to conception. The mean PM<sub>2.5</sub> level was 9.81 <i>µ</i>g m<sup>-3</sup> (standard deviation = 1.70 <i>µ</i>g m<sup>-3</sup>), with a maximum of 14.27 <i>µ</i>g m<sup>-3</sup>. We calculated crude and adjusted fertility treatment odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) per interquartile range of 1.72 <i>µ</i>g m<sup>-3</sup> increase in PM<sub>2.5</sub> exposure. Our final analyses included 10 748 fertility-assisted births and 12 225 controls. After adjusting for parental age, marital status, race, maternal education, insurance status, parity, and year of birth, average PM<sub>2.5</sub> exposure during the year prior to conception was weakly associated with fertility treatment (OR: 1.01; 95% CI: 0.97, 1.05). Fertility-assisted births were inversely associated with traffic density (highest quartile compared to lowest quartile, OR: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.83, 1.02) and positively associated with distance from major roadway (OR per 100 m: 1.01; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.02) in adjusted analyses. We did not find strong evidence to support an adverse relationship between traffic-related air pollution exposure and fertility-assisted births.</p>","PeriodicalId":72938,"journal":{"name":"Environmental research, health : ERH","volume":"1 2","pages":"021005"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10133988/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9762489","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
C E Reid, E M Considine, G L Watson, D Telesca, G G Pfister, M Jerrett
{"title":"Effect modification of the association between fine particulate air pollution during a wildfire event and respiratory health by area-level measures of socio-economic status, race/ethnicity, and smoking prevalence.","authors":"C E Reid, E M Considine, G L Watson, D Telesca, G G Pfister, M Jerrett","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/acc4e1","DOIUrl":"10.1088/2752-5309/acc4e1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Fine particulate air pollution (PM<sub>2.5</sub>) is decreasing in most areas of the United States, except for areas most affected by wildfires, where increasing trends in PM<sub>2.5</sub> can be attributed to wildfire smoke. The frequency and duration of large wildfires and the length of the wildfire season have all increased in recent decades, partially due to climate change, and wildfire risk is projected to increase further in many regions including the western United States. Increasingly, empirical evidence suggests differential health effects from air pollution by class and race; however, few studies have investigated such differential health impacts from air pollution during a wildfire event. We investigated differential risk of respiratory health impacts during the 2008 northern California wildfires by a comprehensive list of socio-economic status (SES), race/ethnicity, and smoking prevalence variables. Regardless of SES level across nine measures of SES, we found significant associations between PM<sub>2.5</sub> and asthma hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits during these wildfires. Differential respiratory health risk was found by SES for ED visits for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease where the highest risks were in ZIP codes with the lowest SES levels. Findings for differential effects by race/ethnicity were less consistent across health outcomes. We found that ZIP codes with higher prevalence of smokers had greater risk of ED visits for asthma and pneumonia. Our study suggests that public health efforts to decrease exposures to high levels of air pollution during wildfires should focus on lower SES communities.</p>","PeriodicalId":72938,"journal":{"name":"Environmental research, health : ERH","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10852067/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44044425","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ellen J Hahn, William C Haneberg, Stacy R Stanifer, Kathy Rademacher, Jason Backus, Mary Kay Rayens
{"title":"Geologic, seasonal, and atmospheric predictors of indoor home radon values.","authors":"Ellen J Hahn, William C Haneberg, Stacy R Stanifer, Kathy Rademacher, Jason Backus, Mary Kay Rayens","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/acdcb3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/acdcb3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Exposure to tobacco smoke and radon cause lung cancer. Radioactive decay of naturally occurring uranium in bedrock produces radon. Seasonality, bedrock type, age of home, and topography have been associated with indoor radon, but the research is mixed. The study objective was to examine the relationships of geologic (soil radon and bedrock) and seasonal (warm and cold times of the year) factors with indoor home radon values in citizen scientists' homes over time, controlling for atmospheric conditions, topography, age of home, and home exposure to tobacco smoke. We collected and analyzed indoor radon values, soil radon gas concentrations, and dwelling- and county-level geologic and atmospheric conditions on 66 properties in four rural counties during two seasons: (1) summer 2021 (<i>n</i> = 53); and (2) winter/spring 2022 (<i>n</i> = 52). Citizen scientists measured indoor radon using Airthings radon sensors, and outdoor temperature and rainfall. Geologists obtained soil radon measurements using RAD7 instruments at two locations (near the dwelling and farther away) at each dwelling, testing for associations of indoor radon values with soil values, bedrock type, topography, and atmospheric conditions. Bedrock type, near soil radon levels, home age, and barometric pressure were associated with indoor radon. Dwellings built on carbonate bedrock had indoor radon values that were 2.8 pCi/L (103.6 Bq m<sup>-3</sup>) higher, on average, compared to homes built on siliclastic rock. Homes with higher near soil radon and those built <40 ago were more likely to have indoor radon ⩾4.0 pCi/L (148 Bq m<sup>-3</sup>). With higher atmospheric barometric pressure during testing, observed indoor radon values were lower. Seasonality and topography were not associated with indoor radon level. Understanding relationships among bedrock type, soil radon, and indoor radon exposure allows the development of practical predictive models that may support pre-construction forecasting of indoor radon potential based on geologic factors.</p>","PeriodicalId":72938,"journal":{"name":"Environmental research, health : ERH","volume":"1 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10496436/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10244007","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}