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VOC Contamination in Hospital, from Stationary Sampling of a Large Panel of Compounds, in View of Healthcare Workers and Patients Exposure Assessment
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Public Library of Science, 2013, 8 (2), pp.e55535. ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0055535⟩, PLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 2, p e55535 (2013), PLoS ONE, 2013, 8 (2), pp.e55535. ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0055535⟩
- Publication Year :
- 2013
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science, 2013.
-
Abstract
- International audience; BACKGROUND: We aimed to assess, for the first time, the nature of the indoor air contamination of hospitals. METHODS AND FINDINGS: More than 40 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including aliphatic, aromatic and halogenated hydrocarbons, aldehydes, alcohols, ketones, ethers and terpenes were measured in a teaching hospital in France, from sampling in six sampling sites--reception hall, patient room, nursing care, post-anesthesia care unit, parasitology-mycology laboratory and flexible endoscope disinfection unit--in the morning and in the afternoon, during three consecutive days. Our results showed that the main compounds found in indoor air were alcohols (arithmetic means ± SD: 928±958 µg/m³ and 47.9±52.2 µg/m³ for ethanol and isopropanol, respectively), ethers (75.6±157 µg/m³ for ether) and ketones (22.6±20.6 µg/m³ for acetone). Concentrations levels of aromatic and halogenated hydrocarbons, ketones, aldehydes and limonene were widely variable between sampling sites, due to building age and type of products used according to health activities conducted in each site. A high temporal variability was observed in concentrations of alcohols, probably due to the intensive use of alcohol-based hand rubs in all sites. Qualitative analysis of air samples led to the identification of other compounds, including siloxanes (hexamethyldisiloxane, octamethyltrisiloxane, decamethylcyclopentasiloxane), anesthetic gases (sevoflurane, desflurane), aliphatic hydrocarbons (butane), esters (ethylacetate), terpenes (camphor, α-bisabolol), aldehydes (benzaldehyde) and organic acids (benzoic acid) depending on sites. CONCLUSION: For all compounds, concentrations measured were lower than concentrations known to be harmful in humans. However, results showed that indoor air of sampling locations contains a complex mixture of VOCs. Further multicenter studies are required to compare these results. A full understanding of the exposure of healthcare workers and patients to complex mixtures of chemical compounds can then be related to potential health outcomes.
- Subjects :
- lcsh:Medicine
MESH: Ketones
010501 environmental sciences
01 natural sciences
Analytical Chemistry
0302 clinical medicine
Health care
lcsh:Science
Chromatography
Multidisciplinary
Sampling (statistics)
Contamination
Ketones
MESH: Hospitals
030210 environmental & occupational health
Hospitals
3. Good health
Chemistry
[SDV.MP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology
Air Pollution, Indoor
Medicine
Public Health
MESH: Environmental Monitoring
Environmental Health
Research Article
Environmental Monitoring
Ethers
Indoor air
Biology
complex mixtures
MESH: Volatile Organic Compounds
Air Quality
03 medical and health sciences
Chemical Analysis
Environmental health
Environmental Chemistry
Humans
[SDV.MP] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology
MESH: Alcohols
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Exposure assessment
Gas Chromatography
Volatile Organic Compounds
MESH: Humans
business.industry
lcsh:R
Quantitative Analysis
13. Climate action
Atmospheric Chemistry
Alcohols
MESH: Ethers
lcsh:Q
MESH: Air Pollution, Indoor
Qualitative Analysis
business
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 8
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....bb78959b6af6a03434a1fa366bce9475