Factors Influencing Classroom Exposures to Fine Particles, Black Carbon, and Nitrogen Dioxide in Inner-City Schools and Their Implications for Indoor Air Quality
Year: 2022
Type: article
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
DOI: 10.1289/ehp10007
Language: English
Subfield: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $5,000
Awards: Atopy, Leptin and Potential Biomarkers of Comorbid Obesity and Asthma in Inner-City Schoolchildren, Indoor Air Quality and Respiratory Morbidity in School-Aged Children with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia, School-based air pollution and asthma morbidity in Inner City School Children, Harvard Chan School NIEHS Center for Environmental Health, School Inner-City Asthma Intervention Study, K24: Midcareer Investigator Award: Urban School Allergen Exposure and Childhood Asthma, Endotoxin, the airway transcriptome, and obstructive lung disease, Role of Peanut Allergen in Urban Schools and Preschools, Environmental Health Sciences Research Center, Air Pollution, Stress and Asthma Morbidity Risk: Role of Biological and Geospatial Markers
OpenAlex ID: W4224252682