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Modeling geographic and demographic variability in residential concentrations of environmental tobacco smoke using national data sets

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 21, pages 646–655 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

Despite substantial attention toward environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure, previous studies have not provided adequate information to apply broadly within community-scale risk assessments. We aim to estimate residential concentrations of particulate matter (PM) from ETS in sociodemographic and geographic subpopulations in the United States for the purpose of screening-level risk assessment. We developed regression models to characterize smoking using the 2006–7 Current Population Survey—Tobacco Use Supplement, and linked these with air exchange models using the 2007 American Housing Survey. Using repeated logistic and log-linear models (n=1000), we investigated whether household variables from the 2000 United States census can predict exposure likelihood and ETS-PM concentration in exposed households. We estimated a mean ETS-PM concentration of 16 μg/m3 among the 17% of homes with non-zero exposure (3 μg/m3 overall), with substantial variability among homes. The highest exposure likelihood was in the South and Midwest regions, rural populations, and low-income households. Concentrations in exposed households were highest in the South and demonstrated a non-monotonic association with income, related to air exchange rate patterns. We provide estimates of ETS-PM concentration distributions for different subpopulations in the United States, providing a starting point for communities interested in characterizing aggregate and cumulative risks from indoor pollutants.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by EPA Student Services Contract #EP09D000560. We gratefully acknowledge Dr. Andrew Geller and Dr. Daniel Vallero of EPA's Office of Research and Development, National Exposure Research Laboratory, for providing technical review of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Teresa Chahine, John Spengler, James Hammitt & Jonathan I Levy

  2. EPA, Office of Research and Development, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA

    Bradley Schultz & Valerie Zartarian

  3. Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, EPA, Office of Research, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA

    S V Subramanian

  4. Toulouse School of Economics (LERNA-INRA), Toulouse, France

    James Hammitt

  5. Department of Environment Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Jonathan I Levy

Authors
  1. Teresa Chahine
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  4. S V Subramanian
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Correspondence to Teresa Chahine.

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Chahine, T., Schultz, B., Zartarian, V. et al. Modeling geographic and demographic variability in residential concentrations of environmental tobacco smoke using national data sets. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 21, 646–655 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2011.12

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