Profiling Personal Air Pollutant Exposures Using a Wearable Non-Selective Passive Wristband

Characterizing cumulative exposure to air pollutant mixtures is a critical step in understanding disease development. Overcoming this research challenge requires the creation of new technologies for capturing and analysing exposures.

This work demonstrates the use of a novel wearable air pollutant monitor, the Fresh Air wristband, to passively sample nitrogen dioxide as well as non-polar compounds. A thin-film polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sorbent material is used to non-selectively absorb non-polar compounds. This sorbent is then analyzed off-line following the exposure assessment period using thermal desorption (TD)- gas chromatography (GC) time-offlight mass spectrometry (ToF-MS).

Presented results highlight the efficiency of the PDMS sorbent material to sample polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) under controlled laboratory conditions as well as from ambient air.

The Fresh Air wristband was tested as personal exposure assessment tool in a cohort of school-aged children over a 5-day period. The wristband was well received by the children. Children with asthma were found to have increased personal exposure to combustion derived PAHs and nitrogen dioxide compared to children without asthma.