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Publikation Population sampling in European air pollution exposure study, EXPOLIS: comparisons between the cities and representativeness of the samples(Nature, 2000) Rotko, Tuulia; Bayer-Oglesby, Lucy; Künzli, Nino; Jantunen, Matti J.01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher ZeitschriftPublikation Spatial variability of different fractions of particulate matter within an urban environment and between urban and rural sites(Taylor & Francis, 2000) Röösli, Martin; Braun-Fährlander, Charlotte; Künzli, Nino; Bayer-Oglesby, Lucy; Theis, Gaston; Camenzind, Markus; Mathys, Patrick; Staehelin, JohannesThe spatial variability of different fractions of particulate matter (PM) was investigated in the city of Basel, Switzerland, based on measurements performed throughout 1997 with a mobile monitoring station at six sites and permanently recorded measurements from a fixed site. Additionally, PM10 measurements from the following year, which were concurrently recorded at two urban and two rural sites, were compared. Generally, the spatial variability of PM4, PM10, and total suspended particulates (TSP) within this Swiss urban environment (area = 36 km2) was rather limited. With the exception of one site in a street canyon next to a traffic light, traffic density had only a weak tendency to increase the levels of PM. Mean PM10 concentration at six sites with different traffic densities was in the range of less than ±10% of the mean urban PM10 level. However, comparing the mean PM levels on workdays to that on weekends indicated that the impact of human activities, including traffic, on ambient PM levels may be considerable. Differences in the daily PM10 concentrations between urban and more elevated rural sites were strongly influenced by the stability of the atmosphere. In summer, when no persistent surface inversions exist, differences between urban and rural sites were rather small. It can therefore be concluded that spatial variability of annual mean PM concentration between urban and rural sites in the Basel area may more likely be caused by varying altitude than by distance to the city center.01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher ZeitschriftPublikation Comparison of Black Smoke and PM2.5 Levels in Indoor and Outdoor Environments of Four European Cities(American Chemical Society, 2002) Götschi, Thomas; Bayer-Oglesby, Lucy; Mathys, Patrick; Monn, Christian; Manalis, Nikos; Koistinen, Kimmo; Jantunen, Matti; Hänninen, Otto; Polanska, Liba; Künzli, NinoRecent studies on separated particle-size fractions highlight the health significance of particulate matter smaller than 2.5 μm (PM2.5), but gravimetric methods do not identify specific particle sources. Diesel exhaust particles (DEP) contain elemental carbon (EC), the dominant light-absorbing substance in the atmosphere. Black smoke (BS) is a measure for light absorption of PM and, thus, an alternative way to estimating EC concentrations, which may serve as a proxy for diesel exhaust emissions. We analyzed PM2.5 and BS data collected within the EXPOLIS study (Air Pollution Exposure Distribution within Adult Urban Populations in Europe) in Athens, Basel, Helsinki, and Prague. 186 indoor/outdoor filter pairs were sampled and analyzed. PM2.5 and BS levels were lowest in Helsinki, moderate in Basel, and remarkably higher in Athens and Prague. In each city, Spearman correlation coefficients of indoor versus outdoor were higher for BS (range rSpearman: 0.57−0.86) than for PM2.5 (0.05−0.69). In a BS linear regression model (all data), outdoor levels explained clearly more of indoor variation (86%) than in the corresponding PM2.5 model (59%). In conclusion, ambient BS seizes a health-relevant fraction of fine particles to which people are exposed indoors and outdoors and exposure to which can be assessed by monitoring outdoor concentrations. BS measured on PM2.5 filters can be recommended as a valid and cheap additional indicator in studies on combustion-related air pollution and health.01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher ZeitschriftPublikation Determinants of perceived air pollution annoyance and association between annoyance scores and air pollution (PM2.5, NO2) concentrations in the European EXPOLIS study(Elsevier, 2002) Rotko, Tuulia; Bayer-Oglesby, Lucy; Künzli, Nino; Carrer, Paolo; Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J; Jantunen, MattiApart from its traditionally considered objective impacts on health, air pollution can also have perceived effects, such as annoyance. The psychological effects of air pollution may often be more important to well-being than the biophysical effects. Health effects of perceived annoyance from air pollution are so far unknown. More knowledge of air pollution annoyance levels, determinants and also associations with different air pollution components is needed. In the European air pollution exposure study, EXPOLIS, the air pollution annoyance as perceived at home, workplace and in traffic were surveyed among other study objectives. Overall 1736 randomly drawn 25–55-yr-old subjects participated in six cities (Athens, Basel, Milan, Oxford, Prague and Helsinki). Levels and predictors of individual perceived annoyances from air pollution were assessed. Instead of the usual air pollution concentrations at fixed monitoring sites, this paper compares the measured microenvironment concentrations and personal exposures of PM2.5 and NO2 to the perceived annoyance levels. A considerable proportion of the adults surveyed was annoyed by air pollution. Female gender, self-reported respiratory symptoms, downtown living and self-reported sensitivity to air pollution were directly associated with high air pollution annoyance score while in traffic, but smoking status, age or education level were not significantly associated. Population level annoyance averages correlated with the city average exposure levels of PM2.5 and NO2. A high correlation was observed between the personal 48-h PM2.5 exposure and perceived annoyance at home as well as between the mean annoyance at work and both the average work indoor PM2.5 and the personal work time PM2.5 exposure. With the other significant determinants (gender, city code, home location) and home outdoor levels the model explained 14% (PM2.5) and 19% (NO2) of the variation in perceived air pollution annoyance in traffic. Compared to Helsinki, in Basel and Prague the adult participants were more annoyed by air pollution while in traffic even after taking the current home outdoor PM2.5 and NO2 levels into account.01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher ZeitschriftPublikation Exposure chain of urban air PM2.5—associations between ambient fixed site, residential outdoor, indoor, workplace and personal exposures in four European cities in the EXPOLIS-study(Elsevier, 2002) Kousa, Anu; Bayer-Oglesby, Lucy; Koistinen, Kimmo; Künzli, Nino; Jantunen, MattiIn the EXPOLIS study personal exposures and microenvironment levels of air pollutants from 50–201 urban adult (25–55 yr) participants were measured in six European cities during 1 yr from autumn 1996 to winter 1997–98. This paper presents the associations between the personal PM2.5 exposures, microenvironment (residential indoor, residential outdoor and workplace indoor) and ambient fixed site concentrations measured in Helsinki (Finland), Basel (Switzerland), Prague (Czech Republic) and Athens (Greece). Considering the whole chain from ambient fixed site to residential outdoor, residential indoor and personal leisure time (non-working hours) exposure, the correlations were highest between personal leisure time exposures and residential indoor concentrations (non-environmental tobacco smoke (ETS): Pearson r=0.72−0.92, ETS included: r=0.82−0.86) except in Athens, where the correlation between residential indoor and outdoor air was highest (non-ETS: r=0.82, ETS included: r=0.68)). Unfortunately, ambient fixed site PM2.5 concentrations were measured continuously only in Helsinki. Ambient fixed site PM2.5 concentrations correlated quite well with residential outdoor concentrations (r=0.90), and also with residential indoor (non-ETS) concentrations (r=0.80), but concentrations measured at ambient fixed site monitors were poor predictors of personal exposures to PM2.5. They were particularly poor predictors of personal workday exposures (non-ETS: r=0.34, ETS included: r=0.25), but considerably better for personal leisure time exposures (non-ETS: r=0.69, ETS included: r=0.54). According to log-linear regression models combined from all centres of non-ETS-exposed participants, residential indoor concentrations explained 76% of personal leisure time PM2.5 exposure variation and workplace indoor concentrations explained 66% of the workday exposure variation.01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher ZeitschriftPublikation Single pollutant versus surrogate measure approaches: Do single pollutant risk assessments underestimate the impact of air pollution on lung cancer risk?(Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2003) Röösli, Martin; Künzli, Nino; Schindler, Christian; Theis, Gaston; Bayer-Oglesby, Lucy; Mathys, Patrick; Camenzind, Markus; Braun-Fahrländer, CharlotteCancer risk as a result of air pollution may be quantified by different approaches. We compared the sum of unit risk based effects of single pollutants with an epidemiology-based method by using PM10 as a surrogate of the total air pollution. The excess rate for lung cancer cases attributable to an increase of 10 μg/m3 in average PM10 exposure was estimated from available cohort studies. Applying the epidemiology-based risk method to the air pollution situation in the Basel area (Switzerland) resulted in 13.3 (95% CI = 6.9–19.8) excess lung cancer cases per 100,000 person years. This estimate was considerably higher than the unit risk-based estimate yielding 1.1 (range, 0.45–2.8) cancer cases per 100,000 person years. We discuss these discrepancies in light of inherent differences between approaches in toxicology and epidemiology.01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher ZeitschriftPublikation Long-term exposure models for traffic related NO2 across geographically diverse areas over separate years(Elsevier, 2012) Sally Liu, L.-J.; Tsai, Ming-Yi; Keidel, Dirk; Gemperli, Armin; Ineichen, Alex; Hazenkamp-von Arx, Marianne; Bayer-Oglesby, Lucy; Rochat, Thierry; Künzli, Nino; Ackermann-Liebrich, Ursula; Straehl, Peter; Schwartz, Joel; Schindler, ChristianAlthough recent air pollution epidemiologic studies have embraced land-use regression models for estimating outdoor traffic exposure, few have examined the spatio-temporal variability of traffic related pollution over a long term period and the optimal methods to take these factors into account for exposure estimates. We used home outdoor NO2 measurements taken from eight geographically diverse areas to examine spatio-temporal variations, construct, and evaluate models that could best predict the within-city contrasts in observations. Passive NO2 measurements were taken outside of up to 100 residences per area over three seasons in 1993 and 2003 as part of the Swiss cohort study on air pollution and lung and heart disease in adults (SAPALDIA). The spatio-temporal variation of NO2 differed by area and year. Regression models constructed using the annual NO2 means from central monitoring stations and geographic parameters predicted home outdoor NO2 levels better than a dispersion model. However, both the regression and dispersion models underestimated the within-city contrasts of NO2 levels. Our results indicated that the best models should be constructed for individual areas and years, and would use the dispersion estimates as the urban background, geographic information system (GIS) parameters to enhance local characteristics, and temporal and meteorological variables to capture changing local dynamics. Such models would be powerful tools for assessing health effects from long-term exposure to air pollution in a large cohort01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher ZeitschriftPublikation PM2.5 assessment in 21 European study centers of ECRHS II: method and first winter results(Taylor & Francis, 2003) Hazenkamp-von Arx, Marianne E.; Fellmann, Thomas Götschi; Bayer-Oglesby, Lucy; Ackermann-Liebrich, Ursula; Gíslason, Thórarinn; Heinrich, Joachim; Jarvis, Deborah; Luczynska, Christina; Manzanera, Angeles Jaén; Modig, Lars; Norbäck, Dan; Pfeifer, Annette; Poli, Albino; Ponzio, Michela; Soon, Argo; Vermeire, Paul; Künzli, NinoThe follow-up of a cohort of adults from 29 European centers of the former European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) I (1989–1992) will examine the long-term effects of exposure to ambient air pollution on the incidence, course, and prognosis of respiratory diseases, in particular asthma and decline in lung function. The purpose of this article is to describe the methodology and the European-wide quality control program for the collection of particles with 50% cut-off size of 2.5 µm aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5 ) in the ECRHS II and to present the PM2.5 results from the winter period 2000–2001. Because PM2.5 is not routinely monitored in Europe, we measured PM2.5 mass concentrations in 21 participating centers to estimate background exposure in these cities. A standardized protocol was developed using identical equipment in each center (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Well Impactor Ninety-Six [WINS] and PQ167 from BGI, Inc.). Filters were weighed in a single central laboratory. Sampling was conducted for 7 days per month for a year. Winter mean PM2.5 mass concentrations (November 2000–February 2001) varied substantially, with Iceland reporting the lowest value (5 µg/m3) and northern Italy the highest (69 µg/m3). A standardized procedure appropriate for PM2.5 exposure assessmnt in a multicenter study was developed. We expect ECRHS II to have sufficient variation in exposure to assess long-term effects of air pollution in this cohort. Any bias caused by variation in the characteristics of the chosen monitoring location (e.g., proximity to traffic sources) will be addressed in later analyses. Given the homogenous spatial distribution of PM2.5 , however, concentrations measured near traffic are not expected to differ substantially from those measured at urban background sites.01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher ZeitschriftPublikation Improvements in PM10 Exposure and Reduced Rates of Respiratory Symptoms in a Cohort of Swiss Adults (SAPALDIA)(American Thoracic Society, 2009) Schindler, Christian; Keidel, Dirk; Gerbase, Margaret W.; Zemp, Elisabeth; Bettschart, Robert; Brändli, Otto; Brutsche, Martin H.; Burdet, Luc; Karrer, Werner; Knöpfli, Bruno; Pons, Marco; Rapp, Regula; Bayer-Oglesby, Lucy; Künzli, Nino; Schwartz, Joel; Liu, Lee-Jane S.; Ackermann-Liebrich, Ursula; Rochat, ThierryRationale: Reductions in mortality following improvements in air quality were documented by several studies, and our group found, in an earlier analysis, that decreasing particulate levels attenuate lung function decline in adults. Objectives: We investigated whether decreases in particulates with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 10 microm (PM10) were associated with lower rates of reporting respiratory symptoms (i.e., decreased morbidity) on follow-up. Methods: The present analysis includes 7,019 subjects who underwent detailed baseline examinations in 1991 and a follow-up interview in 2002. Each subject was assigned model-based estimates of average PM10 during the 12 months preceding each health assessment and the difference was used as the exposure variable of interest (DeltaPM10). Analyses were stratified by symptom status at baseline and associations between DeltaPM10 and change in symptom status during follow-up were adjusted for important baseline characteristics, smoking status at follow-up, and season. We then estimated adjusted odds ratios for symptoms at follow-up and numbers of symptomatic cases prevented due to the observed reductions in PM10. Measurements and main results: Residential exposure to PM10 was lower in 2002 than in 1991 (mean decline 6.2 microg/m3; SD = 3.9 microg/m3). Estimated benefits (per 10,000 persons) attributable to the observed changes in PM10-levels were: 259 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 102-416) fewer subjects with regular cough, 179 (95% CI, 30-328) fewer subjects with chronic cough or phlegm and 137 (95% CI, 9-266) fewer subjects with wheezing and breathlessness. Conclusions: Reductions in particle levels in Switzerland over the 11-year follow-up period had a beneficial effect on respiratory symptoms among adults.01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher ZeitschriftPublikation Personal exposures to VOC in the upper end of the distribution—relationships to indoor, outdoor and workplace concentrations(Elsevier, 2005) Edwards, Rufus D.; Schweizer, Christian; Jantunen, Matti; Lai, Hak Kan; Bayer-Oglesby, Lucy; Katsouyanni, Klea; Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark; Saarela, Kristiina; Sram, Radim; Künzli, NinoEvaluation of relationships between median residential indoor, indoor workplace and population exposures may obscure potential strategies for exposure reduction. Evaluation of participants with personal exposures above median levels in the EXPOLIS study in Athens, Helsinki, Oxford and Prague illustrated that these participants frequently showed a different relationship to indoor and workplace levels than that shown by the population median. Thus, prioritization of environments for control measures based on median exposures may exclude important areas where effectively focused control measures are possible, and may therefore have little impact on the highest and most harmful exposures. Further, personal exposures at the upper end of the distribution may exceed the US EPA inhalation reference concentration (Rfc), illustrated here using hexane, naphthalene and benzene. For example upper 90th percentile personal exposures to benzene in Athens and Prague were 64 and 27 μg m−3 with peak exposures of 217 and 38 μg m−3, respectively for non-ETS exposed participants relative to an Rfc of 30 μg m−3. Strategies to reduce exposures to individual compounds, therefore, may benefit from focus on the high end of the distribution to identify activities and behaviors that result in elevated exposures. Control strategies targeting activities that lead to exposures in the upper end of the distribution would reduce the variability associated with population median values by bringing the upper end of the exposure distribution closer to median values. Thus, compliance with health-based standards would be more protective of the higher exposed fraction of the population, in whom health effects would be more expected.01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher Zeitschrift