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Ratios between Radon Concentrations in Upstairs and Basements : A Study in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States

Li, Longxiang ; Stern, Rebecca A. LU ; Blomberg, Annelise J. LU orcid ; Kang, Choong Min ; Wei, Yaguang ; Liu, Man ; Peralta, Adjani A. ; Lawrence, Joy ; Vieira, Carolina L.Z. and Koutrakis, Petros (2022) In Environmental Science and Technology Letters 9(2). p.191-197
Abstract

Temporally resolved assessment of residential exposure to radon is essential for investigating radon's acute health effects. Recent studies have used large numbers of short-term radon measurements to model the spatiotemporal variations in radon concentrations. However, most short-term radon measurements in the northeastern and midwestern United States were conducted in the basements, which were less frequently occupied and had higher average radon concentrations than the upstairs spaces. Disproportionate usage of basement radon measurements in exposure assessment potentially introduces misclassifications. In an effort to mitigate the issue, we investigated the spatiotemporal gradients in ratios between the radon concentrations in the... (More)

Temporally resolved assessment of residential exposure to radon is essential for investigating radon's acute health effects. Recent studies have used large numbers of short-term radon measurements to model the spatiotemporal variations in radon concentrations. However, most short-term radon measurements in the northeastern and midwestern United States were conducted in the basements, which were less frequently occupied and had higher average radon concentrations than the upstairs spaces. Disproportionate usage of basement radon measurements in exposure assessment potentially introduces misclassifications. In an effort to mitigate the issue, we investigated the spatiotemporal gradients in ratios between the radon concentrations in the upstairs and basements (hereafter upstairs/basement ratio). Building-specific ratios were calculated on the basis of 10774 pairs of simultaneous short-term measurements and then aggregated by state and season. We found that upstairs/basement ratios of northeastern states are generally lower than those of Midwestern states, a pattern also found in 3508 pairs of simultaneous long-term radon measurements. Ratios in winter are higher than those in other seasons. Our results, in conjunction with behavior data, can improve the assessment of short-term residential exposure to radon and therefore facilitate future studies regarding the acute health effects of radon.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Environmental Science and Technology Letters
volume
9
issue
2
pages
7 pages
publisher
The American Chemical Society (ACS)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85123341827
ISSN
2328-8930
DOI
10.1021/acs.estlett.1c00989
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
59feee50-670d-4c91-bea6-5184cf5d50a0
date added to LUP
2022-05-13 10:04:35
date last changed
2023-12-08 18:54:38
@article{59feee50-670d-4c91-bea6-5184cf5d50a0,
  abstract     = {{<p>Temporally resolved assessment of residential exposure to radon is essential for investigating radon's acute health effects. Recent studies have used large numbers of short-term radon measurements to model the spatiotemporal variations in radon concentrations. However, most short-term radon measurements in the northeastern and midwestern United States were conducted in the basements, which were less frequently occupied and had higher average radon concentrations than the upstairs spaces. Disproportionate usage of basement radon measurements in exposure assessment potentially introduces misclassifications. In an effort to mitigate the issue, we investigated the spatiotemporal gradients in ratios between the radon concentrations in the upstairs and basements (hereafter upstairs/basement ratio). Building-specific ratios were calculated on the basis of 10774 pairs of simultaneous short-term measurements and then aggregated by state and season. We found that upstairs/basement ratios of northeastern states are generally lower than those of Midwestern states, a pattern also found in 3508 pairs of simultaneous long-term radon measurements. Ratios in winter are higher than those in other seasons. Our results, in conjunction with behavior data, can improve the assessment of short-term residential exposure to radon and therefore facilitate future studies regarding the acute health effects of radon. </p>}},
  author       = {{Li, Longxiang and Stern, Rebecca A. and Blomberg, Annelise J. and Kang, Choong Min and Wei, Yaguang and Liu, Man and Peralta, Adjani A. and Lawrence, Joy and Vieira, Carolina L.Z. and Koutrakis, Petros}},
  issn         = {{2328-8930}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{191--197}},
  publisher    = {{The American Chemical Society (ACS)}},
  series       = {{Environmental Science and Technology Letters}},
  title        = {{Ratios between Radon Concentrations in Upstairs and Basements : A Study in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.1c00989}},
  doi          = {{10.1021/acs.estlett.1c00989}},
  volume       = {{9}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}