Exposure to particulate matter PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀ in hospital wards, Kuala Lumpur / Nur Shahadah Yahya

The particles in the air that contribute to air pollution are made up of hundreds of different chemicals. Some of the particles were emitted through directly from the sources known as a primary pollutant such as particulate matters, which are suspended particle. Since many people were not realized about the indoor air pollutants are more dangerous compared to outdoor air pollutants and it can cause bad health effects to human’s health especially respiratory problem. The public area such as the hospital is one of the places which the respiratory problems often happened. The main sources of particulate matters at the study location were mobile emission because the building of hospital wards was surrounded by the busy roadsides and also exposed to the construction activities. The aims of this study was (i) to determine the concentration of particulate matter PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀ in hospital wards, Kuala Lumpur, (ii) to compare the concentration of particulate matter PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀ at every Floor Level of hospital wards and (iii) to measure the exposure assessment of particulate matter PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀ concentration to workers in hospital wards. The cross-sectional study design was applied in this study and the air sampling’s instrumentation was used during data collection of particulate matter PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀. The findings of this study were the average concentration of particulate matter at every Floor Levels was higher proportion of exposure concentration of PM₂.₅ compared to exposure concentration PM₁₀. The p-value (p=0.001) of this study was less than 0.01. Independent sample t-test analysis showed the higher proportion of exposure concentration of PM₂.₅ compared to exposure concentration PM₁₀. In conclusion, the average daily exposure dose of inhalation (adults) (i) non-carcinogenic risk (9.08 µg/kg/day and 6.92 µg/kg/day) and (ii) carcinogenic risk (3.11 µg/kg/day and 2.38 µg/kg/day), for both particulate matter PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀, respectively. It means that the average daily exposure dose of inhalation to PM₂.₅ was significantly higher than exposure concentration of PM₁₀ to the worker in hospital wards, Kuala Lumpur.