Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Indoor Dust Collected during the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown in Saudi Arabia: Status, Sources and Human Health Risks.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
; 18(5)2021 03 08.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1134155
ABSTRACT
To control the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Saudi Arabia's government imposed a strict lockdown during March-July 2020. As a result, the public was confined to indoors, and most of their daily activities were happening in their indoor places, which might have resulted in lower indoor environment quality. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analyzed in household dust (n = 40) collected from different residential districts of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during the lockdown period. PAHs' levels were two folds higher than the previously reported PAHs in indoor dust from this region. We detected low molecular weight (LMW) with two to four aromatic ring PAHs in all the samples with a significant contribution from Phenanthrene (Phe), present at an average concentration of 1590 ng/g of dust. Although high molecular weight (HMW) (5-6 aromatic ring) PAHs were detected at lower concentrations than LMW PAHs, however, they contributed >90% in the carcinogenic index of PAHs. The estimated daily intake (EDI) of specific PAHs was above the reference dose (RfD) for young children in high-end exposure and the calculated Incremental Lifetime Cancer Risk (ILCR) was >1.00 × 10-4 for both Saudi adults and young children. The study highlighted that indoor pollution has increased significantly during lockdown due to the increased indoor activities and inversely affect human health. This study also warrants to conduct more studies involving different chemicals to understand the indoor environment quality during strict lockdown conditions.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
/
Air Pollution, Indoor
/
Coronavirus
/
Air Pollutants
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adult
/
Child
/
Child, preschool
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Ijerph18052743
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