Use of a robotic sampling platform to assess young children's exposure to indoor bioaerosols
1Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
Insights
A new robotic sampler, the Pretoddler Inhalable Particulate Environmental Robotic (PIPER) sampler, accurately estimates young children's indoor bioaerosol exposure. Traditional methods underestimate endotoxin exposure, especially from carpeted floors.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Health
- Occupational Health
- Pediatric Health
Background:
- Indoor bioaerosols like allergens, mold, and endotoxin are linked to asthma development.
- Accurate exposure assessment in young children (6-36 months) is crucial for asthma research.
- Existing personal sampling equipment is difficult or impossible to use in infants and toddlers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate a personal sampling surrogate, the Pretoddler Inhalable Particulate Environmental Robotic (PIPER) sampler, for young children.
- To compare bioaerosol exposure measurements from PIPER with traditional stationary air sampling methods.
- To assess the accuracy of exposure estimation in young children, particularly concerning endotoxin and resuspended dust.
Main Methods:
- Developed the PIPER sampler to simulate young children's activity patterns, motion, and breathing zone height.
- Mechanically resuspended deposited dust using PIPER to mimic a child's movement.
- Compared PIPER measurements of allergens, mold spores, and endotoxin to stationary sampling in 75 homes.
Main Results:
- Endotoxin was detected in all homes; PIPER showed significantly higher median concentrations than stationary samplers on carpeted floors during the heating season (ratio 2.96).
- Fungal spore detection was universal, with no statistically significant difference between PIPER and stationary methods.
- Airborne mold levels were significantly higher in the non-heating season compared to the heating season for both methods.
Conclusions:
- Traditional stationary air sampling may significantly underestimate personal endotoxin exposure in young children, especially from carpeted surfaces.
- The PIPER sampler provides a feasible and more accurate approach for estimating personal inhalation exposures in young children.
- PIPER is recommended as a valuable sampling platform for future pediatric exposure studies.
Unlabelled:
Indoor exposures to allergens, mold spores, and endotoxin have been suggested as etiological agents of asthma; therefore, accurate determination of those exposures, especially in young children (6-36 months), is important for understanding the development of asthma. Because use of personal sampling equipment in this population is difficult, and in children <1 year of age impossible, we developed a personal sampling surrogate: the Pretoddler Inhalable Particulate Environmental Robotic (PIPER) sampler to better estimate their exposures. During sampling, PIPER simulates the activity patterns, speed of motion, and the height of the breathing zones of young children, and mechanically resuspends the deposited dust just as a young child does during running and crawling. The concentrations of allergens, mold spores, and endotoxin measured by PIPER were compared to those measured using traditional stationary air sampling method in 75 homes in central New Jersey, United States. Endotoxin was detected in all homes with median concentrations of 1.0 and 0.55 EU/m(3) for PIPER and stationary sampler, respectively. The difference in median concentrations obtained using the two methods was statistically significant for homes with carpeted floors (P = 0.0001) in the heating season. For such homes, the average ratio of endotoxin concentration measured by PIPER to the stationary sampler was 2.96 (95% CI 2.29-3.63). Fungal spores were detected in all homes, with median fungal concentrations of 316 and 380 spores/m(3) for PIPER and stationary sampler, respectively. For fungi, the difference between the two sampling methods was not statistically significant. For both sampling methods, the total airborne mold levels were statistically significantly higher in the non-heating season than in the heating season. Allergens were detected in ~15% of investigated homes. The data indicate that the traditional stationary air-sampling methods may substantially underestimate personal exposures to endotoxin, especially due to resuspension of dust from carpeted floor surfaces. A personal sampling surrogate, such as PIPER, is a feasible approach to estimate personal exposures in young children. PIPER should be seriously considered as the sampling platform for future exposure studies in young children.
Practical Implications:
This study investigated potential indoor bioaerosol exposure of young children using a Pretoddler Inhalable Particulate Environmental Robotic (PIPER) sampler platform. The results show that the traditional stationary air-sampling methods can substantially underestimate personal exposures to resuspended material, and that a personal sampling surrogate, such as PIPER, offers a feasible surrogate for measuring personal inhalation exposures of young children.
