Source apportionment of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) personal exposures: findings from the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) study in rural Guatemala
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Background Source apportionment is a method that reconstructs sources of pollution from monitored values. The identification of these sources is important to develop interventions and other strategies to improve environmental quality. Objective This study aimed to identify and quantify potential sources that contribute to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) personal exposures in a cohort of pregnant women participating in a fuel-cooking intervention trial in Guatemala. Methods We estimated the PM 2.5 and black carbon (BC) concentrations from 629 polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) filter samples using gravimetric and transmittance analyses, and we analyzed inorganic elements using energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF). The filters correspond to personal exposure samples collected with the Enhanced Children’s MicroPEM™ (ECM) from pregnant women who cook using biomass or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) fuels within the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) randomized-controlled trial in rural Jalapa, Guatemala. We used the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) model to identify the potential sources. Results A four-factor source apportionment model was derived from PMF. The potential sources and their relative contributions to PM 2.5 mass were identified as: biomass burning ( ~ 69.6%), fossil fuels (22%), crustal, and other soil ( ~ 4% each). When categorizing our samples by study group, baseline (155 µg/m 3 ; 95% CI: 129.7, 180.2) and post-intervention control (127.2 µg/m 3 ; 95% CI: 114.7, 139.7) samples had the highest amount of PM 2.5 mass (49.7% and 40.7%, respectively) compared to 9.6% (29.9 µg/m 3 ; 95% CI: 27.2, 32.7) from intervention samples. Significance We identified biomass burning, fossil fuel burning, crustal and other soil as sources of PM 2.5 pollution in rural Jalapa, Guatemala. These findings pave the road for future source apportionment studies in this region and highlight the importance of source characterization to implement interventions to reduce PM 2.5 emissions. Impact We identified four potential sources of PM 2.5 in rural Jalapa, Guatemala, based on personal exposure samples from pregnant women participating in the HAPIN trial. Biomass and fossil fuel burning are the sources with the highest contributions, followed by crustal and other soil. The findings of this study highlight the potential to prioritize emissions reduction efforts in rural Guatemala through the implementation of specific interventions based on the derived sources of pollution.
Authors: Erick Mollinedo, Katherine A. Kearns, Armistead G. Russell, Michael Johnson, Christian L’Orange, Ricardo Piedrahita, Ajay Pillarisetti, Jeremy A. Sarnat, John P. McCracken, Lisa M. Thompson, Anaité Diaz-Artiga, Maggie L. Clark, Kyle Steenland, Lance A. Waller, Thomas F. Clasen, Jennifer Peel, William Checkley, Luke P. Naeher, HAPIN Investigators, Vigneswari Aravindalochanan, Kalpana Balakrishnan, Gloriose Bankundiye, Dana Boyd Barr, Vanessa Burrowes, Alejandra Bussalleu, Devan Campbell, Eduardo Canuz, Adly Castañaza, Howard H. Chang, Yunyun Chen, Marilú Chiang, Carmen Lucia Contreras, Rachel Craik, Victor G. Davila-Roman, Lisa de las Fuentes, Oscar de Leon, Priya D’Souza, Ephrem Dusabimana, Lisa Elon, Juan Gabriel Espinoza, Sarada S. Garg, Ahana Ghosh, Dina Goodman-Palmer, Savannah Gupton, Sarah Hamid, Stella M. Hartinger, Steven A. Harvey, Mayari Hengstermann, Ian Hennessee, Phabiola Herrera, Shakir Hossen, Marjorie Howard, Penelope P. Howards, Shirin Jabbarzadeh, Miles A. Kirby, Jacob Kremer, Margaret A. Laws, Grace Lee, Pattie Lenzen, Jiawen Liao, Amy E. Lovvorn, Jane Mbabazi, Eric D. McCollum, Julia N. McPeek, Rachel Meyers, J. Jaime Miranda, Libny Monroy, Lawrence Moulton, Alexie Mukeshimana, Krishnendu Mukhopadhyay, Bernard Mutariyani, Durairaj Natesan, Florien Ndagijimana, Laura Nicolaou, Azhar Nizam, Jean de Dieu Ntivuguruzwa, Parinya Panuwet, Aris T. Papageorghiou, Irma Sayury Pineda Fuentes, Naveen Puttaswamy, Elisa Puzzolo, Sarah Rajkumar, Usha Ramakrishnan, Rengaraj Ramasami, Alexander Ramirez, Ghislaine Rosa, Joshua P. Rosenthal, P. Barry Ryan, Sudhakar Saidam, Sankar Sambandam, Saritha Sendhil, Suzanne Simkovich, Sheela S. Sinharoy, Kirk R. Smith, Gurusamy Thangavel, Ashley Toenjes, Lindsay J. Underhill, Viviane Valdes, Amit Verma, Jiantong Wang, Megan Warnock, Kendra N. Williams, Wenlu Ye, Bonnie N. Young, Ashley Younger
Institutions: University of Georgia, Berkeley Air Monitoring Group (United States), Georgia Institute of Technology, Colorado State University, University of California, Berkeley, Emory University, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Johns Hopkins University, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Prisma, University of Oxford, Washington University in St. Louis, Harvard University, University of Liverpool, National Institutes of Health, Fogarty International Center, MedStar Health Research Institute, Boston Children's Hospital
Language: English
Subfield: Pollution
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $5,490
Funders: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Cancer Institute, Fogarty International Center, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Office of Strategic Coordination, Common Fund
OpenAlex ID: W7166089638