Studying human health in areas with industrial contamination is a serious and complex issue. In recent years, attention has increasingly focused on the health implications of large industrial complexes. A variety of potential toxic chemicals have been produced during manufacturing processes and activities in industrial complexes in South Korea. A large number of dyeing industries gathered together in Daegu dyeing industrial complex. The residents near the industrial complex could be often exposed to volatile organic compounds. This study aimed to evaluate VOCs levels in the ambient air of DDIC, to assess the impact on human health risks, and to find more convincing evidences to prove these VOCs emitted from DDIC. According to deterministic risk assessment, inhalation was the most important route. Residential indoor, outdoor and personal exposure air VOCs were measured by passive samplers in exposed area and controlled area in different seasons. Satisfaction with ambient environments and self-reported diseases were also obtained by questionnaire survey. The VOCs concentrations in exposed area and controlled area was compared by t-test. The relationships among every VOC were tested by correlation. The values of hazard quotient (HQ) and life cancer risk were estimated. The concentrations of measured VOCs were presented, moreover, the variety of concentrations according the distances from the residential settings to the industrial complex site in exposed area. The residential indoor, outdoor, and personal exposure concentrations of toluene, DMF and chloroform in exposed area were significantly higher than the corresponding concentrations in controlled area both in summer and autumn. Toluene, DMF, chloroform and MEK had significantly positive correlations with each other in indoor and outdoor, and even in personal exposure. The HQ for DMF exceeded 1, and the life cancer risk of chloroform was greater than 10− 4 in exposed area. The prevalence of respiratory diseases, anaphylactic diseases and cardiovascular diseases in exposed area were significantly higher than in controlled area. This study showed that adverse cancer and non-cancer health effects may occur by VOCs emitted from DDIC, and some risk managements are needed. Moreover, this study provides a convenient preliminarily method for pollutants source characteristics.

There has been an increasing need for the risk assessment of external environmental hazards in children because they are more sensitive to hazardous chemical exposure than adults. Therefore, the development of general exposure factors is required for appropriate risk assessment in Korean children. This study aimed to determine the general exposure factors among Korean children aged ≤18 years. We developed the recommended exposure factors across five categories: physiological variables, inhalation rates, food and drinking water intake, time–activity patterns, and soil and dust ingestion. National databases were used, and direct measurements and questionnaire surveys of representative samples were performed to calculate the inhalation rate, water intake, and soil ingestion rate. With regard to the time–activity patterns, the daily inhalation rates ranged from 9.49 m³/day for children aged 0–2 years to 14.98 m³/day for those aged 16–18 years. This study found that Korean children spent an average of 22.64 h indoors, 0.63 h outdoors, and 0.73 h in-transit on weekdays. The general exposure factors of Korean children were studied for the first time, and these results could be used to assess children’s exposure and risk. They also suggest the differences compared with the results of international results.

This research was to conduct a pilot study for two consecutive days in order to assess fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) exposure of an entire population in a community. We aimed to construct a surveillance system by analyzing the observed spatio-temporal variation of exposure. Guro-gu in Seoul, South Korea, was divided into 2,204 scale grids of 100 m each. Hourly exposure concentrations of PM_2.5 were modeled by the inverse distance weighted method, using 24 sensor-based air monitoring instruments and the indoor-to-outdoor concentration ratio. Population distribution was assessed using mobile phone network data and indoor residential rates, according to sex and age over time. Exposure concentration, population distribution, and population exposure were visualized to present spatio-temporal variation. The PM_2.5 exposure of the entire population of Guro-gu was calculated by population-weighted average exposure concentration. The average concentration of outdoor PM_2.5 was 42.1 µg/m³, which was lower than the value of the beta attenuation monitor measured by fixed monitoring station. Indoor concentration was estimated using an indoor-to-outdoor PM_2.5 concentration ratio of 0.747. The population-weighted average exposure concentration of PM_2.5 was 32.4 µg/m³. Thirty-one percent of the population exceeded the Korean Atmospheric Environmental Standard for PM_2.5 over a 24 h average period. The results of this study can be used in a long-term aggregate and cumulative PM_2.5 exposure assessment, and as a basis for policy decisions on public health management among policymakers and stakeholders.

Human exposure to air pollution is a major public health concern. Environmental policymakers have been implementing various strategies to reduce exposure, including the 10th-day-no-driving system. To assess exposure of an entire population of a community in a highly polluted area, pollutant concentrations in microenvironments and population time–activity patterns are required. To date, population exposure to air pollutants has been assessed using air monitoring data from fixed atmospheric monitoring stations, atmospheric dispersion modeling, or spatial interpolation techniques for pollutant concentrations. This is coupled with census data, administrative registers, and data on the patterns of the time-based activities at the individual scale. Recent technologies such as sensors, the Internet of Things (IoT), communications technology, and artificial intelligence enable the accurate evaluation of air pollution exposure for a population in an environmental health context. In this study, the latest trends in published papers on the assessment of population exposure to air pollution were reviewed. Subsequently, this study proposes a methodology that will enable policymakers to develop an environmental health surveillance system that evaluates the distribution of air pollution exposure for a population within a target area and establish countermeasures based on advanced exposure assessment.

Since the global enforcement of smoke-free policies, indoor smoking has decreased significantly, and the characteristics of non-smokers’ exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) has changed. The purpose of this study was to assess the temporal and spatial characteristics of SHS exposure in non-smokers by combining questionnaires and biomarkers with time activity patterns. To assess SHS exposure, biomarkers such as cotinine and 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-3-(pyridyl)-1-butanol (NNAL) in urine and nicotine in hair were collected from 100 non-smokers in Seoul. Questionnaires about SHS exposure and time activity patterns were also obtained from the participants. The analysis of biomarker samples indicated that about 10% of participants were exposed to SHS when compared with the criteria from previous studies. However, 97% of the participants reported that they were exposed to SHS at least once weekly. The participants were most exposed to SHS in the outdoor microenvironment, where they spent approximately 1.2 h daily. There was a significant correlation between the participants’ time spent outdoors and self-reported SHS exposure time (r² = 0.935). In this study, a methodology using time activity patterns to assess temporal and spatial characteristics of SHS exposure was suggested. The results of this study may help develop policies for managing SHS exposure, considering the time activity patterns.