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Assessment of indoor and outdoor particulate air pollution at an urban background site in Iran

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Abstract

The relationship between indoor and outdoor particulate air pollution was investigated at an urban background site on the Payambar Azam Campus of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences in Sari, Northern Iran. The concentration of particulate matter sized with a diameter less than 1 μm (PM1.0), 2.5 μm (PM2.5), and 10 μm (PM10) was evaluated at 5 outdoor and 12 indoor locations. Indoor sites included classrooms, corridors, and office sites in four university buildings. Outdoor PM concentrations were characterized at five locations around the university campus. Indoor and outdoor PM measurements (1-min resolution) were conducted in parallel during weekday mornings and afternoons. No difference found between indoor PM10 (50.1 ± 32.1 μg/m3) and outdoor PM10 concentrations (46.5 ± 26.0 μg/m3), indoor PM2.5 (22.6 ± 17.4 μg/m3) and outdoor PM2.5 concentration (22.2 ± 15.4 μg/m3), or indoor PM1.0 (14.5 ± 13.4 μg/m3) and outdoor mean PM1.0 concentrations (14.2 ± 12.3 μg/m3). Despite these similar concentrations, no correlations were found between outdoor and indoor PM levels. The present findings are not only of importance for the potential health effects of particulate air pollution on people who spend their daytime over a period of several hours in closed and confined spaces located at a university campus but also can inform regulatory about the improvement of indoor air quality, especially in developing countries.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences for financial support. Also, the authors thank Mohd Talib Latif, Yusri Yusup, and Mohd Rafatullah for their helpful suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Sciences Research Center, Faculty of Health, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Mazandaran, Iran

    Mahmoud Mohammadyan

  2. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mahboobeh Ghoochani

  3. Department of Environmental Health, Harvard University, 665 Huntington Avenue, Landmark Center Room 415, Boston, MA, 0211, USA

    Itai Kloog

  4. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 33, Al-Khod, 123, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

    Sabah Ahmed Abdul-Wahab

  5. Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Yildiz Technical University, Davutpasa, Esenler, 34200, Istanbul, Turkey

    Kaan Yetilmezsoy

  6. Health Sciences Research Center, Faculty of Health, Student Research Committee, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Mazandaran, Iran

    Behzad Heibati

  7. Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA

    Krystal J. Godri Pollitt

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  1. Mahmoud Mohammadyan
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Correspondence to Behzad Heibati or Krystal J. Godri Pollitt.

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Mohammadyan, M., Ghoochani, M., Kloog, I. et al. Assessment of indoor and outdoor particulate air pollution at an urban background site in Iran. Environ Monit Assess 189, 235 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-017-5951-1

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