Assessment of the Personal Dose Received by School Children Due to PM10 Air Pollution in Lisbon

ABSTRACT Investigation of the personal dose caused by air pollution in children is important due to their vulnerability. Exposure to PM10 and its components, particularly certain metals, may pose significant health risks therefore many studies have focused on measuring the ambient indoor/outdoor PM10 concentrations in school environments. However, little research has aimed at assessing the resultant personal dose. Hence, this study applied a dosimetry model (ExDoM2) to predict the personal dose received by students in five primary schools in Lisbon, Portugal. The calculations were performed for PM10 and PM10-bound metals, and the exposed subjects were assumed to be 10-year-old nose breathers. A realistic exposure scenario involving three different settings (the indoor home, indoor school and outdoor school microenvironments) was implemented for an exposure period of one week (Monday–Sunday). Although the students spent only 24% of their total time inside a school (vs. 73% at home), this environment contributed 44% on average to the weekly deposited dose of PM10, providing further evidence that indoor exposure at schools is a major contributor to the total dose. The modeling results showed that the cumulative deposited doses in the respiratory tract (RT) reached as high as 2,004 µg, 0.16 µg, 0.65 µg, 0.58 µg and 0.06 µg for PM10, Cr, Mn, Pb and Ni, respectively, after one week.