IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i21p4114-d280251.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Air-Quality Assessment of On-Site Brick-Kiln Worker Housing in Bhaktapur, Nepal: Chemical Speciation of Indoor and Outdoor PM 2.5 Pollution

Author

Listed:
  • Steven M. Thygerson

    (Department of Public Health, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA)

  • John D. Beard

    (Department of Public Health, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA)

  • Marion J. House

    (Department of Public Health, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA)

  • Rilee L. Smith

    (Department of Public Health, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA)

  • Hunter C. Burbidge

    (Department of Public Health, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA)

  • Kathryn N. Andrus

    (Department of Public Health, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA)

  • Frank X. Weber

    (RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA)

  • Ryan Chartier

    (RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA)

  • James D. Johnston

    (Department of Public Health, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA)

Abstract

Brick workers and their families in Nepal generally live in poorly ventilated on-site housing at the brick kiln, and may be at higher risk for non-occupational exposure to fine particulate matter air pollution and subsequent respiratory diseases due to indoor and outdoor sources. This study characterized non-occupational exposure to PM 2.5 by comparing overall concentrations and specific chemical components of PM 2.5 inside and outside of brick workers’ on-site housing. For all samples, the geometric mean PM 2.5 concentration was 184.65 μg/m 3 (95% confidence interval: 134.70, 253.12 μg/m 3 ). PM 2.5 concentrations differed by kiln number ( p = 0.009). Kiln number was significantly associated with 16 of 29 (55%) air pollutant, temperature, or relative humidity variables. There was not a significant interaction between kiln number and location of sample for PM 2.5 ( p = 0.16), but there was for relative humidity ( p = 0.02) and temperature ( p = 0.01). Results were qualitatively similar when we repeated analyses using indoor samples only. There was no difference in the chemical makeup of indoor and outdoor PM 2.5 in this study, suggesting that outdoor PM 2.5 air pollution easily infiltrates into on-site brick worker housing. Outdoor and indoor PM 2.5 concentrations found in this study far exceed recommended levels. These findings warrant future interventions targeted to this vulnerable population.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven M. Thygerson & John D. Beard & Marion J. House & Rilee L. Smith & Hunter C. Burbidge & Kathryn N. Andrus & Frank X. Weber & Ryan Chartier & James D. Johnston, 2019. "Air-Quality Assessment of On-Site Brick-Kiln Worker Housing in Bhaktapur, Nepal: Chemical Speciation of Indoor and Outdoor PM 2.5 Pollution," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-19, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:21:p:4114-:d:280251
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/21/4114/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/21/4114/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. John D. Beard & Steven M. Thygerson & Alisandra Olivares & Jaxson E. Tadje & Selah Willis & James D. Johnston, 2022. "Gaseous Air Pollutants and Respirable Crystalline Silica Inside and Outside Homes at Brick Kilns in Bhaktapur, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-14, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:21:p:4114-:d:280251. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.