Comparison of Two Miniaturized, Rectifiable Aerosol Photometers for Personal PM2.5 Monitoring in a Dusty Occupational Environment

Wearable, rectifiable aerosol photometers (WRAPs), instruments with combined nephelometer and on-board filter-based sampling capabilities, generally show strong correlations with reference instruments across a range of ambient and household PM2.5 concentrations. However, limited data exist on their performance when challenged by mixed aerosol exposures, such as those found in dusty occupational environments. Understanding how these instruments perform across a spectrum of environments is critical, as they are increasingly used in human health studies, including those in which concurrent PM2.5 and coarse dust exposures occur simultaneously. The authors collected co-located, ~24 h. breathing zone gravimetric and nephelometer PM2.5 measures using the MicroPEM v3.2A (RTI International) and the UPAS v2.1 PLUS (Access Sensor Technologies). Samples were collected from adult brick workers (n = 93) in Nepal during work and non-work activities. Median gravimetric/arithmetic mean (AM) PM2.5 concentrations for the MicroPEM and UPAS were 207.06 (interquartile range [IQR]: 216.24) and 737.74 (IQR: 1399.98) µg/m3, respectively (p < 0.0001), with a concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) of 0.26. The median stabilized inverse probability-weighted nephelometer PM2.5 concentrations, after gravimetric correction, for the MicroPEM and UPAS were 169.16 (IQR: 204.98) and 594.08 (IQR: 1001.00) µg/m3, respectively (p-value < 0.0001), with a CCC of 0.31. Digital microscope photos and electron micrographs of filters confirmed large particle breakthrough for both instruments. A possible explanation is that the miniaturized pre-separators were overwhelmed by high dust exposures. This study was unique in that it evaluated personal PM2.5 monitors in a high dust occupational environment using both gravimetric and nephelometer-based measures. Our findings suggest that WRAPs may substantially overestimate personal PM2.5 exposures in environments with concurrently high PM2.5 and coarse dust levels, likely due to large particle breakthrough. This overestimation may obscure associations between exposures and health outcomes. For personal PM2.5 monitoring in dusty environments, the authors recommend traditional pump and cyclone or impaction-based sampling methods in the interim while miniaturized pre-separators for WRAPs are designed and validated for use in high dust environments.