Nasal filter reveal exposure risks of inhalable particulates and heavy metals in urban women.

Urban populations, especially women, are vunerable to exposure to airborne pollution, particularly inhalable particulates (PM ₁₀ ). Thus, more accurate measurement of PM ₁₀ levels and evaluating their health effects is critical for guiding policy to improve human health. Previous studies obtained personal PM ₁₀ with time-weighted average by air filter-based sampling (AFS), which ignores individual differences and behavioral patterns. Here, we used nasal filters instead of AFS to obtain actual inhaled PM ₁₀ under short-term exposure for urban dwelling women during a severe haze event in Beijing in 2016. The levels of six heavy metals such as As, Cd, Ni, Cr, Pb, and Co in PM ₁₀ were investigated, and carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks evaluated based on an adjusted US EPA health risk assessment model. The health endpoints for urban dwelling women were further assessed through an exposure-reponse model. We found that the hourly inhaled dose of PM ₁₀ obtained through the nasal filter was about 2.5-17.6 times that obtained by AFS, which also resulted in 4.41-11.30 times more morbidity than estimated by AFS (p < 0.05). Proximity to traffic emissions resulted in greater exposure to particulate matter (>18.8 μg/kg·h) and heavy metals (>2.2 ng/kg·h), and these populations are therefore at greatest risk of developing non-cancer (HI = 4.16) and cancer (R _t  = 7.8 × 10 ^-3 ) related morbities.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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