Modeling Population Exposure to Ultrafine Particles in a Major Italian Urban Area

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Andrea Spinazzè¹  Andrea Cattaneo¹  Carlo Peruzzo²  Domenico M. Cavallo¹ 

[1] Department of Science and High Technology, University of Insubria, via Valleggio 11, 22100 Como, Italy; E-Mails:;Occupational and Preventive Health Division, Macchi Foundation Hospital, Viale Borri 57, 21100 Varese, Italy; E-Mail:

关键词: ultrafine particles;    microenvironments;    indoor environments;    commuting;    employment status;    education level;    age;    gender;    general population;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijerph111010641

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Average daily ultrafine particles (UFP) exposure of adult Milan subpopulations (defined on the basis of gender, and then for age, employment or educational status), in different exposure scenarios (typical working day in summer and winter) were simulated using a microenvironmental stochastic simulation model. The basic concept of this kind of model is that time-weighted average exposure is defined as the sum of partial microenvironmental exposures, which are determined by the product of UFP concentration and time spent in each microenvironment. In this work, environmental concentrations were derived from previous experimental studies that were based on microenvironmental measurements in the city of Milan by means of personal or individual monitoring, while time-activity patterns were derived from the EXPOLIS study. A significant difference was observed between the exposures experienced in winter (W: 28,415 pt/cm³) and summer (S: 19,558 pt/cm³). Furthermore, simulations showed a moderate difference between the total exposures experienced by women (S: 19,363 pt/cm³; W: 27,623 pt/cm³) and men (S: 18,806 pt/cm³; W: 27,897 pt/cm³). In addition, differences were found as a function of (I) age, (II) employment status and (III) educational level; accordingly, the highest total exposures resulted for (I) 55–59 years old people, (II) housewives and students and (III) people with higher educational level (more than 10 years of scholarity). Finally, significant differences were found between microenvironment-specific exposures.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.