Particle Exposure Assessment for Community Elderly (PEACE) in Tianjin, China: Mass concentration relationships Jian Zhou a , Bin Han a , Zhipeng Bai a, b, * , Yan You a , Jiefeng Zhang a , Can Niu a , Yating Liu a , Nan Zhang a , Fei He a , Xiao Ding a , Bing Lu a , Yandi Hu a a State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Urban Ambient Air Particulate Matter Pollution Prevention and Control, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China b Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China article info Article history: Received 23 July 2011 Received in revised form 5 December 2011 Accepted 8 December 2011 Keywords: Elderly population Particulate matter Personal exposure Time-activity pattern Personal cloud abstract Particle Exposure Assessment for Community Elderly (PEACE) in Tianjin, China was to characterize personal PM 10 exposure, and provide data support for an epidemiological study investigating potential health effects of PM pollution on Chinese elderly population. In this study, a total of 80 elderly partici- pants were recruited for a two-consecutive-day personal exposure measurement, and simultaneously residential indoor, residential outdoor and community PM 10 were monitored in the summer and winter of 2009. Personal PM 10 concentrations were 192.8  100.6 mgm 3 in summer and 154.6  105.4 mgm 3 in winter. Modeled personal exposures were less than measured personal exposures while a high coefficient of determination (R 2 ) of 0.71 was obtained. Based on measured and modeled exposures, a mean personal cloud of 30.2 mgm 3 was estimated in summer and 16.5 mgm 3 in winter. Moderate correlation emerged between personal and community PM 10 concentrations in summer (r ¼ 0.39), and stronger correlation was found in winter (r ¼ 0.82). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) shown that smoking, cooking and cleaning activities did not produce significant effect on personal exposures. Further more, multivariate regression analysis performed in this study revealed that community PM 10 level contributed most of personal PM 10 exposure, 32% in summer and 64% in winter, respectively. The findings of this study indicated that PM 10 personal exposures were considerably influenced by outdoor particulate matter rather than typical indoor sources, and ambient PM 10 level measured at community monitoring sites may be used as a surrogate of personal exposure to PM 10 . Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Numerous epidemiological studies have reported significant associations between ambient particulate matter (PM) level measured at community monitoring sites and adverse health effects such as lung dysfunction, hospitalization, and even mortality (Brunekreef et al., 1995; Pope et al., 1995; Pope, 2000; Atkinson et al., 2001). Since the 1980s, a series of population-based PM exposure studies have been conducted in the United States and Europe. These mainly include the TEAM (Total Exposure Assessment Methodology) study (Wallace et al., 1985), the EXPOLIS (Air Pollution Exposure Distribution Within Adult Urban Populations In Europe) study in numerous European cities (Koistinen et al., 1999; Kousa et al., 2002) and the RIOPA (Residential Indoor, Outdoor, and Personal Assess- ment) study (Reff et al., 2004; Meng et al., 2005; Weisel et al., 2005). More recently, the DEARS (The Detroit Exposure Aerosol Research Study) study was designed to examine the spatial variability of PM 2.5 and PM 10e2.5 , and the suitability of conducting health outcome studies using a central site monitor in metropolitan Detroit (Williams et al., 2009; Rodes et al., 2010). In general, these studies have shown that: (1) personal exposures to fine particles and to PM 10 generally exceed both indoor and outdoor concentrations; (2) cross-sectional correlations between personal exposure and outdoor concentra- tions are weak with Pearson’s r correlations ranging from 0.08 to 0.62, and the correlations are usually higher in longitudinal studies (ranging from 0.26 to 0.68); (3) personal PM exposure and its correlation with outdoor PM level vary significantly depending on geographical setting, subpopulation, human activity patterns and PM size distribution. Elderly people have been described as a susceptible population in view of a general physical decline. Previous studies indicated that * Corresponding author. State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Urban Ambient Air Particulate Matter Pollution Prevention and Control, College of Envi- ronmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, #94 Weijin Road, Tianjin 300071, China. Tel./fax: þ86 22 23503397. E-mail address: zbai@nankai.edu.cn (Z. Bai). Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Atmospheric Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/atmosenv 1352-2310/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2011.12.020 Atmospheric Environment 49 (2012) 77e84