2007, Jacquemin, Bénédicte, Sunyer, Jordi, Forsberg, Bertil, Götschi, Thomas, Bayer-Oglesby, Lucy, Ackermann-Liebrich, Ursula, de Marco, Roberto, Heinrich, Joachim, Jarvis, Deborah, Torén, Kjell, Künzli, Nino

Background Annoyance due to air pollution is a subjective score of air quality, which has been incorporated into the National Environmental monitoring of some countries. The objectives of this study are to describe the variations in annoyance due to air pollution in Europe and its individual and environmental determinants. Methods This study took place in the context of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey II (ECRHS II) that was conducted during 1999–2001. It included 25 centres in 12 countries and 7867 randomly selected adults from the general population. Annoyance due to air pollution was self-reported on an 11-point scale. Annual mean mass concentration of fine particles (PM2.5) and its sulphur (S) content were measured in 21 centres as a surrogate of urban air pollution. Results Forty-three per cent of participants reported moderate annoyance (1–5 on the scale) and 14% high annoyance (≥6) with large differences across centres (2–40% of high annoyance). Participants in the Northern European countries reported less annoyance. Female gender, nocturnal dyspnoea, phlegm and rhinitis, self-reported car and heavy vehicle traffic in front of the home, high education, non-smoking and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke were associated with higher annoyance levels. At the centre level, adjusted means of annoyance scores were moderately associated with sulphur urban levels (slope 1.43 μg m−3, standard error 0.40, r = 0.61). Conclusions Annoyance due to air pollution is frequent in Europe. Individuals’ annoyance may be a useful measure of perceived ambient quality and could be considered a complementary tool for health surveillance.

2006, Lai, Hak Kan, Bayer-Oglesby, Lucy, Colvile, Roy N., Götschi, Thomas, Jantunen, Matt J., Künzli, Nino, Kulinskaya, Elena, Schweizer, Christian, Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J.

EXPOLIS was a large-scale population-based study of urban adult exposures to multiple pollutants, and was conducted between 1996 and 2000 in six European cities. Measurements made using standardised protocols in Athens (Greece), Basel (Switzerland), Helsinki (Finland), Milan (Italy), Oxford (UK), and Prague (Czech Republic), allow similarities and differences between contrasting European regions, climates and populations to be identified. Two consecutive days of home indoor and home outdoor measurements of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), black smoke (BS), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were carried out at the homes of adult participants on different dates and seasons during the sampling period. Regression models with interactions searched by all-possible subset method were used to assess the city effects and the determinants of home indoor PM2.5 (adj R2 ¼ 0:60, n ¼ 413), BS (adj R2 ¼ 0:79, n ¼ 382) and NO2 (adj R2 ¼ 0:67, n ¼ 302) levels. Both bi-directional (positive and negative signs of associations) and unidirectional (consistently either positive or negative sign of associations) city effects on different determinants in each indoor model were shown. Smoking, gas-stove usage, outdoor temperature, and wind speed were the common determinants in all three indoor models. Other determinants, including the presence of wooden material, heating, and being located in suburb area, were also identified. They were likely linked to cultural and socio-economic factors.

2002, Götschi, Thomas, Bayer-Oglesby, Lucy, Mathys, Patrick, Monn, Christian, Manalis, Nikos, Koistinen, Kimmo, Jantunen, Matti, Hänninen, Otto, Polanska, Liba, Künzli, Nino

Recent 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.