Affiliations 

  • 1 Environmental Health and Industrial Safety Programme, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
J Environ Public Health, 2014;2014:408275.
PMID: 25136371 DOI: 10.1155/2014/408275

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the concentration of lead (Pb), anions, and cations at six primary schools located around Kuala Lumpur. Low volume sampler (MiniVol PM10) was used to collect the suspended particulates in indoor and outdoor air. Results showed that the concentration of Pb in indoor air was in the range of 5.18 ± 1.08 μg/g-7.01 ± 0.08 μg/g. All the concentrations of Pb in indoor air were higher than in outdoor air at all sampling stations. The concentrations of cations and anions were higher in outdoor air than in indoor air. The concentration of Ca(2+) (39.51 ± 5.01 mg/g-65.13 ± 9.42 mg/g) was the highest because the cation existed naturally in soil dusts, while the concentrations of NO3 (-) and SO4 (2-) were higher in outdoor air because there were more sources of exposure for anions in outdoor air, such as highly congested traffic and motor vehicles emissions. In comparison, the concentration of NO3 (-) (29.72 ± 0.31 μg/g-32.00 ± 0.75 μg/g) was slightly higher than SO4 (2-). The concentrations of most of the parameters in this study, such as Mg(2+), Ca(2+), NO3 (-), SO4 (2-), and Pb(2+), were higher in outdoor air than in indoor air at all sampling stations.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.