Personal pollen exposure compared to stationary measurements

The aim of this study was to examine to what extent stationary outdoor poll en measurements are representative for estimating personal exposure to poll en. Ten subjects were studied during a total of 36 days in spring and summe r. Pollen was sampled using personal SKC total dust samplers and stationary Burkard pollen traps. The personal activity pattern was recorded quarter-h ourly as well as the time spent outdoors. As a reference, SKC and Burkard s amplers were run stationary and in parallel. Stationary comparison of the s amplers showed good correlation (r = 0.981, p < 0.001). However, the SKC sa mpler collected systematically about four times less pollen than the Burkar d sampler. Taking into account the systematic difference between the sampli ng devices, the personal exposure data were about 30% of the stationary pol len concentrations with significant correlation (log-transformed data, r = 0.719, p < 0.0001). Considering the average time the subjects spent outdoor s (14% of sampling time), the indoor-out door ratio for pollen was 0.2. In conclusion, pollen reports are reliable for estimating personal exposure ov er a limited time period although personal pollen exposure is much lower.