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Internal dose of particles in the elderly—modeling based on aerosol measurements

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Abstract

The paper presents an integrated methodology that combines experimental and modeling techniques and links exposure to airborne particulate matter (PM) with internal dose in the respiratory system and burden in adjacent tissues over a period of time. The methodology is used to estimate doses in the respiratory systems of elders that reside in 10 elderly care centers (ECCs) in the metropolitan area of Lisbon. Measurements of PM were performed in the ECCs and combined with a time-budget survey for the occupants. This information served as input to the first model that estimated particle doses in the different regions of the respiratory tract of the elderly, and then a second model was used to calculate particle build-up in the alveolar region, the interstitium and the hilar lymph nodes of the elders over a 5-year exposure period. It was found that in 5 years of continuous exposure to the average particle concentration measured over all ECCs, 258 mg of all particles are deposited on the surface of the alveoli of which 79.6% are cleared, 18.8% are retained in the alveolar region, 1.5% translocate to the hilar lymph nodes, and 0.1% are transferred to the interstitium.

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Acknowledgements

The study would not be possible without the assistance of the Câmara Municipal de Loures, by Dr. Luzia Sousa and Dr. Beatriz Reis. C2TN/IST authors gratefully acknowledge the FCT support through the UID/Multi/04349/2013 project.

Funding

We gratefully acknowledge Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) for funding M. Almeida-Silva PhD fellowship (SFRH/BD/69700/2010) and S.M. Almeida contract (IF/01078/2013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias Nucleares, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Estrada Nacional 10, Km 139.7, 2695-066, Bobadela LRS, Portugal

    Marina Almeida-Silva & Susana M. Almeida

  2. H&TRC - Health & Technology Research Center, ESTeSL - Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Marina Almeida-Silva

  3. Thermal Hydraulics & Multiphase Flow Laboratory, INRASTES, NCSR “DEMOKRITOS”, 153 10, Agia Paraskevi, Greece

    Marika Pilou & Christos Housiadas

Authors
  1. Marina Almeida-Silva
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  2. Marika Pilou
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  3. Christos Housiadas
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  4. Susana M. Almeida
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marina Almeida-Silva.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

Highlights

• Ten percent of the mass of the inhaled particles per breath ends up in the alveolar-interstitial.

• In the bedroom, 79% of the inhaled particle mass deposits.

• In the living room, 90% of the inhaled particle mass deposits.

• Ninety-seven percent of the daily dose in mass can be attributed to particles sized between 2.5–10 μm.

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Almeida-Silva, M., Pilou, M., Housiadas, C. et al. Internal dose of particles in the elderly—modeling based on aerosol measurements. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 23645–23656 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2661-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2661-3

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