A personal particulate matter exposure monitor to support household air pollution exposure and health studies

Household air pollution (HAP) emitted from solid fuel combustion for cooking and heating is responsible for 4.3 million premature deaths annually. Those most affected include women and young children in resource-limited countries. The current standard practice for reducing HAP exposure is to replace traditional cookstoves with more efficient improved stoves. However, the relationship between exposure reduction and potential health benefits has been quantified at limited levels. Accurate personal exposure data have not been available from conventional monitoring technologies, burdensome for both study participants and researchers. The RTI MicroPEM™, a low-burden particulate matter (PM) personal exposure monitor, was used by local researchers to assess HAP exposures of 6 and 26 week old children in 319 rural Malawian households. The MicroPEM collects both real-time and gold-standard integrated filter PM data. The on-board accelerometer informs participant compliance to the study protocol that the mother moves the monitor with the child throughout the 48-hour measurement period and wears it while carrying the child. Valid data were collected in 92% of homes, and the MicroPEM was moved or worn during 45% of waking hours. More than 80% of the participants were exposed to the PM levels greater than the WHO guideline during at least a half of the 48-hour monitoring period. Parallel personal and indoor kitchen samples at 15 households showed 13 times higher PM levels indoors. These early data indicate the MicroPEM allows local researchers to collect high quality personal exposure data for very young and the most at-risk children.