Air pollution exposure monitoring and estimation Part IV. Urban exposure in children

In the winter of 1994, 2300 school-age children in Oslo participated in a p anel study of the role of traffic pollution on the exacerbation of diseases of the respiratory system and other symptoms of reduced health and well be ing in children. The children filled out a diary daily with information for five time points over six weeks. In order to quantify exposure-effect rela tionships for the symptoms, individual exposure to NO2 and particular matte r (PM2.5) was estimated, using the DINEX method a combination of informatio n from the diary as to the children's whereabouts during the five time poin ts each day, coupled with continuous dispersion modelling. An individual ex posure estimate for each time point for each child was defined. Individual exposure estimated using dispersion modelling can be used to examine patter ns of exposure such as isolating geographic areas with higher concentration s or describing concentrations of pollution by time of day. The diary allow ed the time-use of the children to be described.