International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Research

12 pages, 1211 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Risk Assessment of Indoor Air Quality and Its Association with Subjective Symptoms among Office Workers in Korea

by Dayoung Jung, Youngtae Choe, Jihun Shin, Eunche Kim, Gihong Min, Dongjun Kim, Mansu Cho, Chaekwan Lee, Kilyong Choi, Byung Lyul Woo and Wonho Yang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(4), 2446; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19042446 - 20 Feb 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2435

Abstract

The 2014 Time-Use Survey of Statistics Korea revealed that office workers are increasingly spending more than eight hours at work. This study conducted an exposure assessment for office workers in Korea. Indoor and outdoor air pollutants were measured in offices. A self-administered questionnaire [...] Read more.

The 2014 Time-Use Survey of Statistics Korea revealed that office workers are increasingly spending more than eight hours at work. This study conducted an exposure assessment for office workers in Korea. Indoor and outdoor air pollutants were measured in offices. A self-administered questionnaire was employed to determine work information, indoor air quality (IAQ) awareness, and subjective symptoms for 328 workers. Indoor air concentrations for measured air pollutants were below IAQ guideline values. The average concentrations of target air pollutants did not show significant differences except for benzene, which had relatively a higher concentration in national industrial complexes. The indoor benzene, ethylbenzene, and acetaldehyde concentrations were higher in offices where workers were having dry eye, ophthalmitis, and headache symptoms. This study provides reference values to manage IAQ in offices, suggesting that if the benzene concentration exceeds 4.23 μg/m³ in offices, it could cause dry eye symptoms. Considering the increasing working hours for office workers and health effects, workers’ exposure to indoor pollutants should be reduced. In addition, the IAQ was heavily influenced by outdoor air levels and various indoor sources. Therefore, in areas with relatively high air pollution, greater monitoring and management is required considering the influence of outdoor air quality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Occupational & Environmental Health Risk Assessment)

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19 pages, 3527 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Inter- and Intra-Individual Variability of Personal Health Risk of Combined Particle and Gaseous Pollutants across Selected Urban Microenvironments

by Shakhaoat Hossain, Wenwei Che and Alexis Kai-Hon Lau

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(1), 565; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010565 - 05 Jan 2022

Viewed by 1983

Abstract

Exposure surrogates, such as air quality measured at a fixed-site monitor (FSM) or residence, are typically used for health estimates. However, people spend various amounts of time in different microenvironments, including the home, office, outdoors and in transit, where they are exposed to [...] Read more.

Exposure surrogates, such as air quality measured at a fixed-site monitor (FSM) or residence, are typically used for health estimates. However, people spend various amounts of time in different microenvironments, including the home, office, outdoors and in transit, where they are exposed to different magnitudes of particle and gaseous air pollutants. Health risks caused by air pollution exposure differ among individuals due to differences in activity, microenvironmental concentration, as well as the toxicity of pollutants. We evaluated individual and combined added health risks (AR) of exposure to PM_2.5, NO_2, and O₃ for 21 participants in their daily life based on real-world personal exposure measurements. Exposure errors from using surrogates were quantified. Inter- and intra-individual variability in health risks and key contributors in variations were investigated using linear mixed-effects models and correlation analysis, respectively. Substantial errors were found between personal exposure concentrations and ambient concentrations when using air quality measurements at either FSM or the residence location. The mean exposure errors based on the measurements taken at either the FSM or residence as exposure surrogates was higher for NO₂ than PM_2.5, because of the larger spatial variability in NO₂ concentrations in urban areas. The daily time-integrated AR for the combined PM_2.5, NO₂, and O₃ (TIAR_combine) ranged by a factor of 2.5 among participants and by a factor up to 2.5 for a given person across measured days. Inter- and intra-individual variability in TIAR_combine is almost equally important. Several factors were identified to be significantly correlated with daily TIAR_combine, with the top five factors, including PM_2.5, NO₂ and O₃ concentrations at ‘home indoor’, O₃ concentrations at ‘office indoor’ and ambient PM_2.5 concentrations. The results on the contributors of variability in the daily TIAR_combine could help in targeting interventions to reduce daily health damage related to air pollutants. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Occupational & Environmental Health Risk Assessment)

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8 pages, 657 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Missing Value Imputation of Time-Series Air-Quality Data via Deep Neural Networks

by Taesung Kim, Jinhee Kim, Wonho Yang, Hunjoo Lee and Jaegul Choo

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(22), 12213; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182212213 - 20 Nov 2021

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2628

Abstract

To prevent severe air pollution, it is important to analyze time-series air quality data, but this is often challenging as the time-series data is usually partially missing, especially when it is collected from multiple locations simultaneously. To solve this problem, various deep-learning-based missing [...] Read more.

To prevent severe air pollution, it is important to analyze time-series air quality data, but this is often challenging as the time-series data is usually partially missing, especially when it is collected from multiple locations simultaneously. To solve this problem, various deep-learning-based missing value imputation models have been proposed. However, often they are barely interpretable, which makes it difficult to analyze the imputed data. Thus, we propose a novel deep learning-based imputation model that achieves high interpretability as well as shows great performance in missing value imputation for spatio-temporal data. We verify the effectiveness of our method through quantitative and qualitative results on a publicly available air-quality dataset. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Occupational & Environmental Health Risk Assessment)

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9 pages, 341 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Environmental Pyrethroid Exposure and Cognitive Dysfunction in U.S. Older Adults: The NHANES 2001–2002

by Ui-Jin Kim, Myeongjin Hong and Yoon-Hyeong Choi

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(22), 12005; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182212005 - 16 Nov 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2464

Abstract

Pyrethroid compounds are widely used in household insecticides and agricultural pesticides. Recent studies, however, report that pyrethroid exposures affect neurobehavioral function in animals and may be associated with adverse neurocognitive development in children. This study aimed to examine the association between pyrethroid exposure [...] Read more.

Pyrethroid compounds are widely used in household insecticides and agricultural pesticides. Recent studies, however, report that pyrethroid exposures affect neurobehavioral function in animals and may be associated with adverse neurocognitive development in children. This study aimed to examine the association between pyrethroid exposure and cognitive dysfunction in older adults using a well-defined general population. We analyzed data from 336 individuals, aged 60–84 years, who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001–2002. We used urinary 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA) concentration as a biomarker of pyrethroid exposures and assessed cognitive function with the digit–symbol coding test. The geometric means (±geometric standard errors) of creatinine-uncorrected and corrected urinary 3-PBA were 0.30 (±0.87) μg/L and 0.36 (±0.89) μg/g. After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, higher 3-PBA concentrations (> vs. ≤0.30 μg/g creatinine (median)) were associated with lower scores of cognitive function (−3.83 95% confidence interval: −7.11, −0.54). Significance was persistent after additionally adjusting for physical activity and smoking pack-year (−3.76 95% CI: −7.16, −0.36) and further adjusting for BMI and presence of hypertension and diabetes (−3.82 95% CI: −6.92, −0.71). Our findings suggest that pyrethroid exposure is associated with cognitive dysfunction in older adults. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Occupational & Environmental Health Risk Assessment)

11 pages, 351 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Factors Affecting Radiation Protection Behaviors among Emergency Room Nurses

by Sookkyoung Park and Yaki Yang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(12), 6238; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126238 - 09 Jun 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3262

Abstract

This study aimed to examine factors affecting radiation protection behaviors among emergency room nurses by assessing knowledge about radiation protection and attitude towards radiation protection, employing a cross-sectional design. Subjects were a convenience sample of 129 nurses working in the emergency rooms of [...] Read more.

This study aimed to examine factors affecting radiation protection behaviors among emergency room nurses by assessing knowledge about radiation protection and attitude towards radiation protection, employing a cross-sectional design. Subjects were a convenience sample of 129 nurses working in the emergency rooms of three advanced general hospitals. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires and analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple regression. There were significant relations between knowledge about radiation protection and attitude towards radiation protection (r = 0.34, p < 0.001), knowledge about radiation protection and radiation protection behaviors (r = 0.37, p < 0.001), and attitude towards radiation protection and radiation protection behaviors (r = 0.33, p < 0.001). The factors affecting radiation protection behaviors were radiation protection knowledge (β = 0.12, p = 0.045), attitude towards radiation protection (β = 0.17, p = 0.009), the experience of radiation protection education (β = 0.27, p < 0.001), and wearing of protective equipment (β = 0.29, p < 0.001). The governments, hospital administrators, and radiation protection agencies should strengthen their radiation defense environment to protect emergency room nurses from radiation. Research and development of radiation defense equipment and the medical examination of emergency room nurses should be carried out, radiation defense behavior protocols should be developed, radiation defense education opportunities should be provided, and the use of defense equipment should be encouraged. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Occupational & Environmental Health Risk Assessment)

15 pages, 1241 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Humidifier Disinfectant Consumption and Humidifier Disinfectant-Associated Lung Injury in South Korea: A Nationwide Population-Based Study

by Jeonggyo Yoon, Minsun Kang, Jaehun Jung, Min Jae Ju, Sung Hwan Jeong, Wonho Yang and Yoon-Hyeong Choi

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(11), 6136; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18116136 - 06 Jun 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3619

Abstract

Humidifier disinfectant (HD) is a household biocidal product used in humidifier water tanks to prevent the growth of microorganisms. In 2011, a series of lung injury cases of unknown causes emerged in children and pregnant women who had used HD in Korea. This [...] Read more.

Humidifier disinfectant (HD) is a household biocidal product used in humidifier water tanks to prevent the growth of microorganisms. In 2011, a series of lung injury cases of unknown causes emerged in children and pregnant women who had used HD in Korea. This study investigated changes in the nationwide number of cases of humidifier disinfectant-associated lung injury (HDLI) in concordance with nationwide HD consumption using data covering the entire Korean population. More than 25 kinds of HD products were sold between 1994 and 2011. The number of diagnosed HDLI, assessed by S27.3 (other injuries of lungs) of the Korea National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) data, sharply increased by 2005, subsequently decreased after 2005, and almost disappeared after 2011 in concordance with the annual number of HD sales. The number of self-reported HDLIs, assessed using data from all suspected HDLI cases registered in the Korea Ministry of Environment, changed with the annual number of HD sales, with a delay pattern, potentially induced by the late awareness of lung injury diseases. The present study suggests that changes in the nationwide annual consumption of HD products were consistent with changes in the annual number of HDLI cases in Korea. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Occupational & Environmental Health Risk Assessment)

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17 pages, 818 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Combining Three Cohorts of World Trade Center Rescue/Recovery Workers for Assessing Cancer Incidence and Mortality

by Robert M. Brackbill, Amy R. Kahn, Jiehui Li, Rachel Zeig-Owens, David G. Goldfarb, Molly Skerker, Mark R. Farfel, James E. Cone, Janette Yung, Deborah J. Walker, Adrienne Solomon, Baozhen Qiao, Maria J. Schymura, Christopher R. Dasaro, Dana Kristjansson, Mayris P. Webber, Roberto G. Lucchini, Andrew C. Todd, David J. Prezant, Paolo Boffetta and Charles B. Hall Show full author list Hide full author list

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(4), 1386; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041386 - 03 Feb 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2845

Abstract

Three cohorts including the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), the World Trade Center Health Registry (WTCHR), and the General Responder Cohort (GRC), each funded by the World Trade Center Health Program have reported associations between WTC-exposures and cancer. Results [...] Read more.

Three cohorts including the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), the World Trade Center Health Registry (WTCHR), and the General Responder Cohort (GRC), each funded by the World Trade Center Health Program have reported associations between WTC-exposures and cancer. Results have generally been consistent with effect estimates for excess incidence for all cancers ranging from 6 to 14% above background rates. Pooling would increase sample size and de-duplicate cases between the cohorts. However, pooling required time consuming steps: obtaining Institutional Review Board (IRB) approvals and legal agreements from entities involved; establishing an honest broker for managing the data; de-duplicating the pooled cohort files; applying to State Cancer Registries (SCRs) for matched cancer cases; and finalizing analysis data files. Obtaining SCR data use agreements ranged from 6.5 to 114.5 weeks with six states requiring >20 weeks. Records from FDNY (n = 16,221), WTCHR (n = 29,372), and GRC (n = 33,427) were combined de-duplicated resulting in 69,102 unique individuals. Overall, 7894 cancer tumors were matched to the pooled cohort, increasing the number cancers by as much as 58% compared to previous analyses. Pooling resulted in a coherent resource for future research for studies on rare cancers and mortality, with more representative of occupations and WTC- exposure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Occupational & Environmental Health Risk Assessment)

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8 pages, 554 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Estimation of Inhaled Effective Doses of Uranium and Thorium for Workers in Bayan Obo Ore and the Surrounding Public, Inner Mongolia, China

by Yao Zhang, Xianzhang Shao, Liangliang Yin and Yanqin Ji

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(3), 987; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18030987 - 22 Jan 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2201

Abstract

Uranium and thorium are two common natural radioactive elements with high concentrations in Earth’s crust. The main aim of this study is to estimate the inhaled effective dose of uranium and thorium caused by a typical radioactive rare earth ore to the occupational [...] Read more.

Uranium and thorium are two common natural radioactive elements with high concentrations in Earth’s crust. The main aim of this study is to estimate the inhaled effective dose of uranium and thorium caused by a typical radioactive rare earth ore to the occupational population and the surrounding public. The particulate matter (PM) concentrations in the atmosphere of four typical workplaces and one surrounding living area were obtained by a high-flow sampling equipment with a natural cellulose filter membrane. The critical parameter for the inhaled effective dose estimation—the activity median aerodynamic diameter (AMAD)—was determined. The AMAD values of uranium and thorium in the atmosphere PM were 3.36 and 3.64 μm, respectively. The estimated median effective dose caused by inhalation thorium among the occupational population ranged from 15.3 to 269.0 μSv/a, and the corresponding value for the surrounding public was 2.3 μSv/a. All values for the effective dose caused by the inhalation of uranium were in the nSv magnitude. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Occupational & Environmental Health Risk Assessment)

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