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Indoor air quality assessment with respect to culturable airborne bacteria, total volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde, PM10, CO2, NO2, and O3 in underground subway stations and parking lots

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Abstract

We measured the concentrations of indoor pollutants (fine particulate matter (PM10)), culturable airborne bacteria (CAB), total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), formaldehyde (HCHO), CO2, NO2, and O3 in subway stations and public parking lots at a national scale in South Korea in order to determine their possible relationships with other underground environmental factors and facility characteristics. Indoor pollutants were sampled at 59 underground facilities with a total of 187 samples in subway stations and parking lots. Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney analyses were used to examine the relationships between atmospheric pollutants at underground facilities and indoor/outdoor differences in PM10 and O3 concentrations. Underground PM10 concentrations were higher than outdoor concentrations at all underground facilities (p < 0.001), while underground O3 concentrations were lower than outdoor O3 concentrations at all underground facilities (p < 0.001).

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Funding

This research was supported by the Korea Ministry of Environment (MOE) as the Environmental Health Action Program and the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korean (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (2018R1C1A1A02037363), and by the Korea government (MSIP) (NRF-2016R1C1B2016366).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Cancer Control Institute, National Cancer Center, 323 Ilsan-ro, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

    Sung Ho Hwang

  2. The Institute for Occupational Health, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03722, South Korea

    Wha Me Park

  3. Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea

    Wha Me Park

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  1. Sung Ho Hwang
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  2. Wha Me Park
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Correspondence to Wha Me Park.

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Hwang, S.H., Park, W.M. Indoor air quality assessment with respect to culturable airborne bacteria, total volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde, PM10, CO2, NO2, and O3 in underground subway stations and parking lots. Air Qual Atmos Health 12, 435–441 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-019-00666-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-019-00666-z

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