Impact of mitigation measures to improve home indoor air quality in Kathmandu, Nepal
Air purifiers (APs) and home sealing are interventions used to help protect U.S. diplomats against particle pollution in the home when working in polluted cities. We investigated the effect of these interventions on home indoor and personal PM _2.5 exposure in Kathmandu, Nepal. Twenty-one participan...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research: Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/acb663 |
| _version_ | 1797698323228917760 |
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| author | Leslie Edwards Paul Wilkinson Gemma Rutter Leslie Iverson Ai Milojevic |
| author_facet | Leslie Edwards Paul Wilkinson Gemma Rutter Leslie Iverson Ai Milojevic |
| author_sort | Leslie Edwards |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Air purifiers (APs) and home sealing are interventions used to help protect U.S. diplomats against particle pollution in the home when working in polluted cities. We investigated the effect of these interventions on home indoor and personal PM _2.5 exposure in Kathmandu, Nepal. Twenty-one participants underwent repeated 48 hour personal monitoring before and after intervention. We analyzed these measurements by microenvironment. Indoor-outdoor ratios (I/O) using the home indoor PM _2.5 values were calculated in order to assess the air filtration capacity at home in light of increasing outdoor PM _2.5 post-intervention. To quantify the effect of intervention on home indoor PM _2.5 , we conducted a meta-analysis of the results of dwelling-by-dwelling regression of indoor-on-outdoor (I/O) PM _2.5 concentrations. On average, adding high-capacity APs and home sealing led to a 15% decrease in PM _2.5 measured at home, excluding cooking periods, with a mean (standard deviation) of 7.5 (6.4) μ g m ^−3 pre- to 6.4 (8.1) μ g m ^−3 post-intervention despite a 57% increase in outdoor PM _2.5 , from 43.8 (30.8) μ g m ^−3 pre- to 68.9 (40.7) μ g m ^−3 post-intervention. Overall mean personal exposure fell by 36% from 15.2 (10.6) μ g m ^−3 to 9.8 (8.7) μ g m ^−3 . I/O ratios decreased as outdoor PM _2.5 strata increased; when outdoor PM _2.5 < 25 μ g m ^−3 the I/O decreased from 0.38 pre- to 0.12 post-intervention and when outdoor PM _2.5 was 101–200 μ g m ^−3 the I/O decreased from 0.12 pre- to 0.07 post-intervention. The mean regression slope of indoor-on-outdoor PM _2.5 decreased from 0.13 (95% CI 0.09, 0.17) in pre-intervention dwellings to 0.07 (0.04, 0.10) post-intervention. I/O ratios showed a weak negative (not statistically significant) inverse association with air changes per hour at home. In the high pollution environment of Kathmandu, APs with home sealing provide substantial protection against ambient PM _2.5 in the home environment, including during periods when outdoor PM _2.5 concentration was above 100 μ g m ^−3 . |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:52:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8f1224ea30a2465c9c12be2233b8bad7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2752-5309 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:52:38Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research: Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-8f1224ea30a2465c9c12be2233b8bad72023-09-03T12:15:32ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research: Health2752-53092023-01-011202500410.1088/2752-5309/acb663Impact of mitigation measures to improve home indoor air quality in Kathmandu, NepalLeslie Edwards0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9925-4267Paul Wilkinson1Gemma Rutter2Leslie Iverson3Ai Milojevic4London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine , London, United KingdomLondon School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine , London, United KingdomUnited States Embassy , Kathmandu, NepalUnited States Embassy , Kathmandu, NepalLondon School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine , London, United KingdomAir purifiers (APs) and home sealing are interventions used to help protect U.S. diplomats against particle pollution in the home when working in polluted cities. We investigated the effect of these interventions on home indoor and personal PM _2.5 exposure in Kathmandu, Nepal. Twenty-one participants underwent repeated 48 hour personal monitoring before and after intervention. We analyzed these measurements by microenvironment. Indoor-outdoor ratios (I/O) using the home indoor PM _2.5 values were calculated in order to assess the air filtration capacity at home in light of increasing outdoor PM _2.5 post-intervention. To quantify the effect of intervention on home indoor PM _2.5 , we conducted a meta-analysis of the results of dwelling-by-dwelling regression of indoor-on-outdoor (I/O) PM _2.5 concentrations. On average, adding high-capacity APs and home sealing led to a 15% decrease in PM _2.5 measured at home, excluding cooking periods, with a mean (standard deviation) of 7.5 (6.4) μ g m ^−3 pre- to 6.4 (8.1) μ g m ^−3 post-intervention despite a 57% increase in outdoor PM _2.5 , from 43.8 (30.8) μ g m ^−3 pre- to 68.9 (40.7) μ g m ^−3 post-intervention. Overall mean personal exposure fell by 36% from 15.2 (10.6) μ g m ^−3 to 9.8 (8.7) μ g m ^−3 . I/O ratios decreased as outdoor PM _2.5 strata increased; when outdoor PM _2.5 < 25 μ g m ^−3 the I/O decreased from 0.38 pre- to 0.12 post-intervention and when outdoor PM _2.5 was 101–200 μ g m ^−3 the I/O decreased from 0.12 pre- to 0.07 post-intervention. The mean regression slope of indoor-on-outdoor PM _2.5 decreased from 0.13 (95% CI 0.09, 0.17) in pre-intervention dwellings to 0.07 (0.04, 0.10) post-intervention. I/O ratios showed a weak negative (not statistically significant) inverse association with air changes per hour at home. In the high pollution environment of Kathmandu, APs with home sealing provide substantial protection against ambient PM _2.5 in the home environment, including during periods when outdoor PM _2.5 concentration was above 100 μ g m ^−3 .https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/acb663PM2.5indoorsoutdoorspost-interventioninterventionsair purifiers |
| spellingShingle | Leslie Edwards Paul Wilkinson Gemma Rutter Leslie Iverson Ai Milojevic Impact of mitigation measures to improve home indoor air quality in Kathmandu, Nepal Environmental Research: Health PM2.5 indoors outdoors post-intervention interventions air purifiers |
| title | Impact of mitigation measures to improve home indoor air quality in Kathmandu, Nepal |
| title_full | Impact of mitigation measures to improve home indoor air quality in Kathmandu, Nepal |
| title_fullStr | Impact of mitigation measures to improve home indoor air quality in Kathmandu, Nepal |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact of mitigation measures to improve home indoor air quality in Kathmandu, Nepal |
| title_short | Impact of mitigation measures to improve home indoor air quality in Kathmandu, Nepal |
| title_sort | impact of mitigation measures to improve home indoor air quality in kathmandu nepal |
| topic | PM2.5 indoors outdoors post-intervention interventions air purifiers |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/acb663 |
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