Survey of 24-h personal formaldehyde exposures in geographically distributed urban office workers in the USA

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 27; no. 14; pp. 17250 - 17257
• Main Authors: Abelmann, Anders, McEwen, Abigail R., Lotter, Jason T., Maskrey, Joshua R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.05.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Air sampling; Aldehydes; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Exposure; Formaldehyde; Geographical distribution; Geographical locations; Indoor air pollution; Microenvironments; Occupational exposure; Research Article; Urban environments; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; United States > US; Background concentration; Ambient air; Personal exposure; Passive monitoring; Inhalation exposure; Formaldehyde; Indoor air
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-020-08218-0

An air sampling study was conducted to evaluate personal formaldehyde exposures in a group of office workers spread across five geographical locations in the USA. Passive badge samples for formaldehyde were collected on three participants in each location, as well as in the office and home indoor microenvironments of each participant over 3 individual days. Median personal 24-h formaldehyde concentrations ranged from 9.9 to 18 μg/m 3 . Personal 24-h formaldehyde concentrations in one location were significantly higher than concentrations measured in the other four locations; no significant differences existed between any of the other locations. The participants in this study spent an average of 53% of their daily time in their homes, 36% at their office, and 11% in other indoor and outdoor locations. A comparison of measured 24-h personal formaldehyde concentrations and a model of average exposure based upon measured concentrations in the indoor microenvironments suggested that both the home and office formaldehyde concentrations were a strong predictor ( R 2  = 0.88) of overall personal exposure. The data from this study are representative of office workers in urban environments and can be used as background formaldehyde exposure levels (in the absence of specific sources) for both occupational and nonoccupational exposure assessments.