These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Factors Influencing Classroom Exposures to Fine Particles, Black Carbon, and Nitrogen Dioxide in Inner-City Schools and Their Implications for Indoor Air Quality.
    Author: Matthaios VN, Kang CM, Wolfson JM, Greco KF, Gaffin JM, Hauptman M, Cunningham A, Petty CR, Lawrence J, Phipatanakul W, Gold DR, Koutrakis P.
    Journal: Environ Health Perspect; 2022 Apr; 130(4):47005. PubMed ID: 35446676.
    Abstract:
    BACKGROUND: School classrooms, where students spend the majority of their time during the day, are the second most important indoor microenvironment for children. OBJECTIVE: We investigated factors influencing classroom exposures to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), black carbon (BC), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in urban schools in the northeast United States. METHODS: Over the period of 10 y (2008-2013; 2015-2019) measurements were conducted in 309 classrooms of 74 inner-city schools during fall, winter, and spring of the academic period. The data were analyzed using adaptive mixed-effects least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression models. The LASSO variables included meteorological-, school-, and classroom-based covariates. RESULTS: LASSO identified 10, 10, and 11 significant factors (p<0.05) that were associated with indoor PM2.5, BC, and NO2 exposures, respectively. The overall variability explained by these models was R2=0.679, 0.687, and 0.621 for PM2.5, BC, and NO2, respectively. Of the model's explained variability, outdoor air pollution was the most important predictor, accounting for 53.9%, 63.4%, and 34.1% of the indoor PM2.5, BC, and NO2 concentrations. School-based predictors included furnace servicing, presence of a basement, annual income, building type, building year of construction, number of classrooms, number of students, and type of ventilation that, in combination, explained 18.6%, 26.1%, and 34.2% of PM2.5, BC, and NO2 levels, whereas classroom-based predictors included classroom floor level, classroom proximity to cafeteria, number of windows, frequency of cleaning, and windows facing the bus area and jointly explained 24.0%, 4.2%, and 29.3% of PM2.5, BC, and NO2 concentrations, respectively. DISCUSSION: The adaptive LASSO technique identified significant regional-, school-, and classroom-based factors influencing classroom air pollutant levels and provided robust estimates that could potentially inform targeted interventions aiming at improving children's health and well-being during their early years of development. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP10007.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]