Sources, levels, and determinants of indoor air pollutants in Europe: A systematic review
Carla Martins, Vânia Teófilo, Marta Clemente, M Corda, José Fermoso, Alicia Aguado, Sandra Rodríguez, Hanns Moshammer, Alexandra Kristian, Mireia Ferri, Belén Costa-Ruiz, L. Pintor Pérez, Wojciech Hanke, Artur Badyda, Piotr Kępa, Katarzyna Affek, Nina Doskocz, Laura Martín-Torrijos, Mehmet Oguz Mulayim, Carlos Taboada Martínez, Alba Gómez-López, Rubèn González, Isaac Cano, Josep Roca, Simon de Leede, Susana Viegas
Abstract
Clean air is a requirement for life, and the quality of indoor air is a health determinant since people spend most of their daily time indoors. The aim of this study was to systematically review the available evidence regarding the sources, determinants and concentrations of indoor air pollutants in a set of scenarios under study in K-HEALTHinAIR project. To this end, a systematic review was performed to review the available studies published between the years 2013-2023, for several settings (schools, homes, hospitals, lecture halls, retirement homes, public transports and canteens), conducted in Europe, where sources and determinants of the indoor pollutants concentrations was assessed. After a two-stage screening in abstract and full-text, 148 papers were included for data extraction. For particulate matter, carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds, several emission sources were identified (occupancy, human activities, resuspension, cleaning products, disinfectants, craft activities, cooking, smoking), with ventilation, number of occupants, building characteristics, being considered as important determinants. This review made also possible to discuss some of the actions that are already in place or should be implemented in the future to prevent and control the presence of pollutants indoors.