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. 2021 Sep 1:284:117454.
doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117454. Epub 2021 May 23.

Potential health risks of inhaled toxic elements and risk sources during different COVID-19 lockdown stages in Linfen, China

Yanyang Wang  1 , Baoshuang Liu  2 , Yufen Zhang  1 , Qili Dai  1 , Congbo Song  3 , Liqin Duan  4 , Lili Guo  4 , Jing Zhao  4 , Zhigang Xue  5 , Xiaohui Bi  1 , Yinchang Feng  1
Affiliations

Potential health risks of inhaled toxic elements and risk sources during different COVID-19 lockdown stages in Linfen, China

Yanyang Wang et al. Environ Pollut. .

Abstract

Levels of toxic elements in ambient PM2.5 were measured from 29 October 2019 to 30 March 2020 in Linfen, China, to assess the health risks they posed and to identify critical risk sources during different periods of the COVID-19 lockdown and haze episodes using positive matrix factorization (PMF) and a health-risk assessment model. The mean PM2.5 concentration during the study period was 145 μg/m3, and the 10 investigated toxic elements accounted for 0.31% of the PM2.5 mass. The total non-cancer risk (HI) and total cancer risk (TCR) of the selected toxic elements exceed the US EPA limits for children and adults. The HI for children was 2.3 times that for adults for all periods, which is likely due to the high inhalation rate per unit body weight for children. While the TCR for adults was 1.7 times that of children, which is mainly attributed to potential longer exposure duration for adults. The HI and TCR of the toxic elements during full lockdown were reduced by 66% and 58%, respectively, compared to their pre-lockdown levels. The HI and TCR were primarily attributable to Mn and As, respectively. Health risks during haze episodes were significantly higher than the average levels during COVID-19 lockdowns, though the HI and TCR of the selected toxic elements during full-lockdown haze episodes were 68% and 17% lower, respectively, than were the levels during pre-lockdown haze episodes. During the study period, fugitive dust and steel-related smelting were the highest contributors to HI and TCR, respectively, and decreased in these emission sources contributed the most to the lower health risks observed during the full lockdown. There, the control of these sources is critical to effectively reduce public health risks.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cancer risk; Haze episodes; Non-cancer risk; Source apportionment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Image 1
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The time series of (a) concentrations and (b) percentages of the selected toxic elements in PM2.5, (c) wind speed and wind direction, and (d) temperature and relative humidity during this study period.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The non-cancer risk (HQ), total non-cancer risk (HI), cancer risk (CR), and total cancer risk (TCR) of the selected toxic elements during the study period and different lockdown periods. (a) non-cancer risks for children; (b) non-cancer risks for adults; (c) cancer risks for children; and (d) cancer risks for adults.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Inhaled health risks of the selected toxic elements during the whole haze episodes (HEs) and the HEs occurred during different lockdown periods. (a) non-cancer risks for children; (b) non-cancer risks for adults; (c) cancer risks for children; and (d) cancer risks for adults.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Factor profiles resolved via positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis. The solid crimson points designate the explained variations, the bars show the estimated concentrations, and the top and bottom of the error bars and the hollow points represent the maximum, minimum, and average DISP values, respectively.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
The contribution percentages of total non-cancer risks (HIs) and total cancer risks (TCRs) of the selected toxic elements emitted from different sources to the HIs and TCRs of the toxic elements emitted from all emission sources during different lockdown periods. FD: fugitive dust, SN: secondary nitrate, CC: coal combustion, VE: vehicle emissions, SS: secondary sulphate, BB: biomass burning, and SRS: steel-related smelting.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
The contribution percentages of total non-cancer risks (HIs) and total cancer risks (TCRs) of the selected toxic elements emitted from different sources to the HIs and TCRs of the toxic elements emitted from all emission sources during haze episodes through and before the COVID-19 lockdown period (the contribution percentages for children and adults were the same in this study, and contributions less than 2% were not indicated).
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