Background

In the context of inner-city housing intensification, exploring the association between outdoor and indoor air quality is important to quantify any potential health risks.

Methods

We undertook a cross-sectional case study on 50 residences in an inner-city neighbourhood scheduled for urban development, bisected by a busy road. We measured indoor and outdoor NO₂, indoor temperature, and undertook a survey on demographic factors and household NO₂ sources. We performed a linear regression to examine the association between indoor and outdoor NO₂ (measured at the building facade) adjusting for potential confounders.

Results

Mean indoor and outdoor levels of NO₂ were 8.4 and 12.5 μg/m³ respectively. The unadjusted model showed no significant association between indoor and outdoor NO₂. In the fully-adjusted model, a 1 % increase in outdoor NO₂ was associated with a 5 % increase in indoor NO₂ (95 %CI: 1.2–8.8%).

Conclusion

A weak association between indoor and outdoor NO₂ was found. More intensive housing development in a transport corridor may be possible; however given the health risks of induced by air pollutants starts even at levels below WHO recommended levels, urban policy measures to reduce indoor and ambient air pollution are required.

中文翻译：

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室内和室外NO ₂水平之间的关联：以新西兰城市社区的50个住宅为例

背景

在城市房屋集约化的背景下，探索室外和室内空气质量之间的关系对于量化任何潜在的健康风险非常重要。

方法

我们对一个计划进行城市发展的内城区邻里的50个住宅进行了横断面案例研究，该住宅被繁忙的道路一分为二。我们测量了室内和室外的NO ₂，室内温度，并对人口因素和家庭NO ₂来源进行了调查。我们进行了线性回归以检验室内和室外NO ₂（在建筑物外墙处测量）之间的关联，以调整潜在的混杂因素。

结果

室内和室外的平均NO ₂水平分别为8.4和12.5μg/ m ³。未经调整的模型显示室内和室外NO ₂之间没有显着关联。在完全调整的模型中，室外NO ₂增加1％与室内NO ₂增加5％有关（95％CI：1.2–8.8％）。

结论

发现室内和室外NO ₂之间的关联较弱。在交通走廊上可能会进行更密集的住房开发；但是，考虑到空气污染物引起的健康风险甚至在世界卫生组织建议的水平以下开始出现，就需要采取减少室内和环境空气污染的城市政策措施。