A weekly time-weighted method of outdoor and indoor individual exposure to particulate air pollution

Abstract The aim of this study was to estimate the weekly time-weighted (outdoor and indoor activity patterns) individual exposure to particulate air pollutants (PM10, PM2.5 and PM1) of pregnant women. A total of 4,928 pregnancy women were recruited during their early pregnancy, and 4,278 (86.8%) were successfully followed-up at childbirth. Each individual weekly average PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations at the residential and workplace addresses from three months before pregnancy to childbirth was estimated using a spatiotemporal land use regression (ST-LUR) model, and the weekly PM1 concentration was estimated employing a generalized additive model (GAM) which utilized weekly PM2.5 and meteorological factors as independent predictors. Then, the time-weighted individual exposure to particulate air pollutants during workdays and non-workdays during the period from three months before pregnancy to childbirth was estimated based on the estimated weekly air pollutant concentrations and each participant’s indoor and outdoor activity model, respectively. Data analysis was carried out by R software (version 3.5.1) and packages “SpatioTemporal”, “mgcv” and “splines” were mainly used. This method takes a full consideration of indoor and outdoor activity patterns in the individual exposure to particulate air pollutants. • A ST-LUR model was used to estimate the individual weekly average PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations at their residential and workplace addresses. • A GAM was applied to estimate the weekly average PM1 concentration at individual residential and workplace addresses. • Individual weekly exposure to particulate air pollutants during workdays and non-workdays was assessed based on the estimated particulate air pollutant concentrations and their indoor and outdoor activity model.