Assessment of PM10 concentrations from domestic biomass fuel combustion intwo rural Bolivian highland villages

PM10, concentrations were measured in two contrasting rural Bolivian villag es that cook with biomass fuels. In one of the villages, cooking was done e xclusively indoors, and in the other, it was done primarily outdoors. Conce ntrations in all potential microenvironments of exposure (i.e., home, kitch en, and outdoors) were measured for a total of 621 samples. Geometric mean kitchen PM10 concentrations were 1830 and 280 mu g/m(3) and geometric mean home concentrations were 280 and 440 mu g/m(3) for the indoor and outdoor c ooking villages, respectively. An analysis of pollutant concentrations usin g generalized estimating equation techniques showed significant effects of village (indoor cooking vs outdoor cooking) (p = 0.0244), location (home, k itchen) (p < 0.0001), and interaction of village and location (p < 0.0001)o n log-transformed PM10 concentrations. Pollutant concentrations and activit y pattern data were used to estimate total exposure using the indirect meth od of exposure assessment. Daily exposure for women during the nonwork seas on was 15 120 and 6240 mu g h(-1) m(-3) for the indoor and outdoor cooking villages, respectively. Differences in exposure to pollution between the vi llages were not as great as might be expected based on kitchen concentratio ns alone. This study underscores the importance of measuring pollutant conc entrations in all microenvironments where people spend time and of shifting the focus of air pollution studies to include rural populations in develop ing countries.