Potential ecological and health risks of heavy metals for indoor and corresponding outdoor dust in Hefei, Central China

Li Zhou; Guijian Liu; Mengchen Shen; Yuan Liu

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134864

Potential ecological and health risks of heavy metals for indoor and corresponding outdoor dust in Hefei, Central China

Chemosphere. 2022 Sep:302:134864. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134864. Epub 2022 May 7.

Authors

Li Zhou¹, Guijian Liu², Mengchen Shen³, Yuan Liu³

Affiliations

¹ CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China; State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710075, China; State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution (SKLMP), Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China; Suzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of Science and Technology of China, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215123, China.
² CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China; State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710075, China. Electronic address: lgj@ustc.edu.cn.
³ CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China.

PMID: 35537633
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134864

Abstract

The harm caused by indoor dust has received increasing attention in recent years. However, current studies have ignored comparisons with the corresponding outdoor dust. This study aimed to investigate the distribution of heavy metals in indoor and corresponding outdoor dust and the ecological and health risks they pose in Hefei, Central China. We analyzed O/I (outdoor/indoor concentration ratios) values, background comparison, and correlation analysis (heavy metal concentrations vs. particle size) and found that Cu, Zn, and Cd mainly existed in indoor sources, while V, Co, and As mainly existed in outdoor sources, and both family sizes and floor number influenced the variation of O/I. Through a new potential ecological risk assessment method, we determined that Cd risk levels in indoor and outdoor dust were extreme and high to extreme, respectively. Additionally, the carcinogenic risks of Ni, As, and Cr were not negligible. The risk of indoor dust was higher than that of outdoor dust for the heavy metals studied, implying a poor indoor environment. Notably, indoor dust from families with smaller sizes, lower floors, and smokers had higher ecological and carcinogenic risks.

Keywords: Health risks; Heavy metals; Indoor and outdoor dust; Potential ecological risks.

MeSH terms

Cadmium / analysis
Carcinogens / analysis
China
Cities
Dust* / analysis
Environmental Monitoring / methods
Humans
Metals, Heavy* / analysis
Risk Assessment

Substances

Carcinogens
Dust
Metals, Heavy
Cadmium