Assessment of Traffic-Related Air Pollution: Case Study of Pregnant Women in South Texas

• Main Authors: Mohammad Hashem Askariyeh, Suriya Vallamsundar, Josias Zietsman, Tara Ramani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-07-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: dynamic exposure; vehicle emissions; air pollution; pregnant women; GPS; dispersion method; particulate matter PM_2.5
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/13/2433

Population groups vulnerable to adverse effects of traffic-related air pollution correspond to children, pregnant women and elderly. Despite these effects, literature is limited in terms of studies focusing on these groups and a reason often cited is the limited information on their mobility important for exposure assessment. The current study presents a method for assessing individual-level exposure to traffic-related air pollution by integrating mobility patterns tracked by global positioning system (GPS) devices with dynamics of air pollutant concentrations. The study is based on a pool of 17 pregnant women residing in Hidalgo County, Texas. The traffic-related particulate matter with diameter of less than 2.5 micrometer (PM_2.5) emissions and air pollutant concentrations are predicted using MOVES and AERMOD models, respectively. The daily average traffic-related PM_2.5 concentration was found to be 0.32 µg/m³, with the highest concentration observed in transit (0.56 µg/m³), followed by indoors (0.29 µg/m³), and outdoor (0.26 µg/m³) microenvironment. The obtained exposure levels exhibited considerable variation between time periods, with higher levels during peak commuting periods, close to the US−Mexico border region and lower levels observed during midday periods. The study also assessed if there is any difference between traffic-related dynamic exposure, based on time-varying mobility patterns, and static exposure, based solely on residential locations, and found a difference of 9%, which could be attributed to the participants’ activity patterns being focused mostly indoors.