ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL TOBACCO-SMOKE AND RESPIRABLE SUSPENDED PARTICLE EXPOSURES FOR NONSMOKERS IN HONG-KONG USING PERSONAL MONITORING

One hundred and ninety-four randomly selected nonsmoking subjects coll ected air samples in their breathing zone by wearing personal monitors for 24 h, The study was centered in Hong Kong, and comprised housewiv es in one group, primarily for assessing exposures in the home, and of fice workers in a second group to assess the contribution of the workp lace to overall exposure. Samples collected were analysed for respirab le suspended particles (RSP), nicotine, 3-ethenylpyridine, and environ mental tobacco smoke (ETS) particles using ultraviolet absorbance (UVP M), fluorescence (FPM), and solanesol measurements (SolPM), Saliva cot inine analyses were also undertaken to confirm the nonsmoking status o f the subjects and to investigate their correlation with ETS exposure measurements. Approximately 6% of the subjects in Hong Kong misclassif ied their nonsmoking status. Median time-weighted average (TWA) RSP co ncentrations varied from 43 to 54 mu g m(-3) with no significant diffe rences detected between any of the groups investigated. Office workers who lived and worked with smokers were exposed to 2.6 mu g m(-3) ETS particles (SolPM) and 0.44 mu g m(-3) nicotine, based on median TWA co ncentrations. Median concentrations of ETS particles and nicotine were below the limits of quantification for housewives living with smokers and were not significantly different from those for housewives living with nonsmokers. It would therefore be unreliable in Hong Kong to use a smoking spouse as a marker for assessing health risks related to ET S exposure. The office workers in this study were significantly more e xposed to ETS than housewives from either smoking or nonsmoking homes, and the workplace was estimated to contribute over 33% of the annual exposure to ETS particles and nicotine. Exposure estimates suggest tha t the most highly exposed office workers in this study receive between 11 and 50 cigarette equivalents per year, based upon upper decile lev els for ETS particles and nicotine, respectively. (C)1998 Elsevier Sci ence Ltd.