Quantifying human exposure to air pollution—Moving from static monitoring to spatio-temporally resolved personal exposure assessment

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 443; pp. 184 - 193
• Main Authors: Steinle, Susanne, Reis, Stefan, Sabel, Clive Eric
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier B.V 15.01.2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: air; Air Pollution; air quality; Air. Soil. Water. Waste. Feeding; Applied sciences; Atmospheric pollution; Biological and medical sciences; Conceptual model; Environment; Environment. Living conditions; Environmental Exposure; Environmental Monitoring; Exact sciences and technology; exposure assessment; Humans; Integrated assessment; Medical sciences; monitoring; people; Personal exposure; pollutants; Pollution; population distribution; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; temporal variation; urban areas; Environment; Air pollution; Personal exposure; Integrated assessment; Conceptual model; Chemical analysis; Personnel monitoring; Modeling; Ethics; Time resolution; Health and environment; Surveillance; Risk assessment; Spatial resolution; Public health; Quantitative analysis
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.10.098

Quantifying human exposure to air pollutants is a challenging task. Ambient concentrations of air pollutants at potentially harmful levels are ubiquitous in urban areas and subject to high spatial and temporal variability. At the same time, every individual has unique activity-patterns. Exposure results from multifaceted relationships and interactions between environmental and human systems, adding complexity to the assessment process. Traditionally, approaches to quantify human exposure have relied on pollutant concentrations from fixed air quality network sites and static population distributions. New developments in sensor technology now enable us to monitor personal exposure to air pollutants directly while people are moving through their activity spaces and varying concentration fields. The literature review on which this paper is based on reflects recent developments in the assessment of human exposure to air pollution. This includes the discussion of methodologies and concepts, and the elaboration of approaches and study designs applied in the field. We identify shortcomings of current approaches and discuss future research needs. We close by proposing a novel conceptual model for the integrated assessment of human exposure to air pollutants taking into account latest technological capabilities and contextual information. ► We review and discuss recent developments and advances of research into personal exposure to air pollution. ► We emphasise the importance of personal exposure studies to accurately assess human health risks. ► We discuss potential and shortcomings of methods and tools with a focus on how their development influences study design. ► We propose a novel conceptual model for integrated health impact assessment of human exposure to air pollutants. ► We present a conceptual model taking into account latest technological capabilities and socio-economic context.