Characteristics of peak exposure to black carbon pollution in school, commute and home environments among school children in an urban community

Although real-time personal exposure monitoring devices have the ability to capture a wealth of data regarding fluctuations in pollutant levels, only a few studies have defined ‘peaks’ in black carbon (BC) exposure utilizing high-resolution data. Furthermore, studies to assess and characterize various features of peak exposure are very limited especially among children. A better understanding of characteristics of BC peak exposure would improve our understanding of health risks associated with BC. By capturing personal BC exposure at 5-min intervals using a real-time monitor during 24-hr monitoring periods among children in New York City (NYC), we defined ‘peak characteristics’ in 4 different ways across three major microenvironments (school vs. commute vs. home): 1) mean concentrations of BC across the 3 microenvironments, 2) ‘peak duration’ or time spent above the peak threshold (i.e., ≥1.5 μg/m3), 3) ‘peak intensity’ or the rate of exposure, defined as time spent above the threshold within each microenvironment divided by the total time spent in the microenvironment and 4) a novel metric of ‘peak variability’, defined as frequency of peaks (i.e., data points with +50% and −50% changes compared to the preceding and the subsequent data points), divided by the total time spent in the microenvironment. While peak duration was greatest at home, the intensity of peak exposure was greatest during commute hours, despite the short time spent in commute (p < 0.05). Peak variability was highest during commute, yet lowest in home environments (p < 0.05), particularly during non-sleeping hours. Children residing in a high-density urban setting spent on average, 5.4 hr per day above our peak threshold (≥1.5 μg/m3) in their everyday environments. Policies that limit children's exposure during high traffic periods and improved efforts to increase the number of vehicles using clean air technology could reduce the intensity of peaks and peak variability in children's BC exposure.