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Jonathan I. Levy,¹ E. Andres Houseman,² John D. Spengler,¹ Penn Loh,³ and Louise Ryan²

¹Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
²Department of Biostatstics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
³Alternatives for Community and Environment, Roxbury, Massachusetts, USA

Abstract

Given an elevated prevalence of respiratory disease and density of pollution sources, residents of Roxbury, Massachusetts, have been interested in better understanding their exposures to air pollution. To determine whether local transportation sources contribute significantly to exposures, we conducted a community-based pilot investigation to measure concentrations of fine particulate matter (particulate matter < 2.5 µm ; PM_2.5) and particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Roxbury in the summer of 1999. Community members carried portable monitors on the streets in a 1-mile radius around a large bus terminal to create a geographic information system (GIS) map of concentrations and gathered data on site characteristics that could predict ambient concentrations. Both PM_2.5 and PAH concentrations were greater during morning rush hours and on weekdays. In linear mixed-effects regressions controlling for temporal autocorrelation, PAH concentrations were significantly higher with closer proximity to the bus terminal (p < 0.05) , and both pollutants were elevated, but not statistically significantly so, on bus routes. Regressions on a subset of measurements for which detailed site characteristics were gathered showed higher concentrations of both pollutants on roads reported to have heavy bus traffic. Although a more comprehensive monitoring protocol would be needed to develop robust predictive functions for air pollution, our study demonstrates that pollution patterns in an urban area can be characterized with limited monitoring equipment and that university-community partnerships can yield relevant exposure information. Key words: community-based research, fine particulate matter, geographic information system, personal exposure, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, transportation. Environ Health Perspect 109:341-347 (2001) . [Online 8 March 2001]

http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2001/109p341-347levy/ abstract.html

Address correspondence to J.I. Levy, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115 USA. Telephone: (617) 432-4845. Fax: (617) 432-4122. E-mail: jilevy@hsph.harvard.edu

We thank J. Louis, A. Belizaire, and R. Foreman for their data collection efforts ; J. Vallarino and T. Dumyahn for their technical assistance ; teachers from the Boston Evening Academy for their assistance ; and the 1999 students from the Summer Program in Biostatistics for assisting us with pilot measurements.

This study was funded in part by T32 and T35 short-term training grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (T32 ES07142) , an R25 grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R25 GM55353) , the Harvard University Committee on the Environment, the Kresge Center for Environmental Health (ES00002) , and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA ; cooperative agreement CR825267-01) .

This paper has not been subjected to U.S. EPA review and does not necessarily reflect the views of the agency.

Received 29 June 2000 ; accepted 22 November 2000.