Evaluation of a direct personal coarse particulate matter monitor

One aspect of the North Carolina Adult Asthma and Environment study (NCAAES) was to evaluate personal exposures to coarse particulate matter (PM10−2.5) and their associated variability. As part of this, we examined the ability of a community-based monitor to act as a surrogate for an individual's true exposure to this size fraction in linked health effect studies. To assess personal exposures to various particulate matter (PM) size fractions, a personal PM monitor was evaluated. This monitor featured a multi-stage cascade impactor that allowed for the simultaneous collection of PM10−2.5 and PM2.5 size fractions. The monitor was evaluated for collocated bias and comparability with a dichotomous (dichot) sampler (device for dividing aerosol PM population into two size fractions during sampling) at an outdoor monitoring site. Results of this evaluation indicated that the prototype was capable of agreement within ±20% of that provided by the reference methodology as well as 20% daily precision for PM10−2.5 mass measurements.