Abstract
Cooking and heating with coal and biomass is the main source of household air pollution in China and a leading contributor to disease burden. As part of a baseline assessment for a household energy intervention program, we enrolled 205 adult women cooking with biomass fuels in Sichuan, China and measured their 48-h personal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and carbon monoxide (CO) in winter and summer. We also measured the indoor 48-h PM2.5 concentrations in their homes and conducted outdoor PM2.5 measurements during 101 (74) days in summer (winter). Indoor concentrations of CO and nitrogen oxides (NO, NO2) were measured over 48-h in a subset of ~ 80 homes. Women's geometric mean 48-h exposure to PM2.5 was 80 μg/m3 (95% CI: 74, 87) in summer and twice as high in winter (169 μg/m3 (95% CI: 150, 190), with similar seasonal trends for indoor PM2.5 concentrations (winter: 252 μg/m3; 95% CI: 215, 295; summer: 101 μg/m3; 95% CI: 91, 112). We found a moderately strong relationship between indoor PM2.5 and CO (r = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.46, 0.72), and a weak correlation between personal PM2.5 and CO (r = 0.41, 95% CI: − 0.02, 0.71). NO2/NO ratios were higher in summer (range: 0.01 to 0.68) than in winter (range: 0 to 0.11), suggesting outdoor formation of NO2 via reaction of NO with ozone is a more important source of NO2 than biomass combustion indoors. The predictors of women's personal exposure to PM2.5 differed by season. In winter, our results show that primary heating with a low-polluting fuel (i.e., electric stove or wood-charcoal) and more frequent kitchen ventilation could reduce personal PM2.5 exposures. In summer, primary use of a gaseous fuel or electricity for cooking and reducing exposure to outdoor PM2.5 would likely have the greatest impacts on personal PM2.5 exposure.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 449-457 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Environment international |
Volume | 94 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 1 2016 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank our study participants and field staff, as well as Kathie Dionisio and Jose Vallarino for valuable input on measurement design and implementation. This publication was made possible by EPA grant # 83542201 . Its contents are solely the responsibility of the grantee and do not necessarily represent the official views of the EPA. Further, the EPA does not endorse the purchase of any commercial products or services mentioned in the publication. J.B. was supported by a CIHR New Investigator Award #141959.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd
Keywords
- Carbon monoxide
- China
- Energy
- Exposure
- Household air pollution
- Nitrogen oxides
- Particulate matter
- Tibetan Plateau