Pollutants and heavy metals concentration in indoor air and dusts from school environment in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah : association with lung inflammation and other related health symptoms among the students

Mohd Hamizul, Nur Haslyna (2019) Pollutants and heavy metals concentration in indoor air and dusts from school environment in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah : association with lung inflammation and other related health symptoms among the students. [Project Paper] (Submitted)

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Abstract

Introduction: Indoor air quality is an increasing public health concern due to amount of time people spend indoors and presence of chemical contaminants that might pose health effects. Heavy metals may come from many different sources including vehicle emissions, industrial discharges, mining and other activities. Objective: To study the relationship between air quality parameters [PM2.s, PM10, nitrogen dioxide, volatile organic compound (VOCs) and heavy metals concentrations (Cr, Mn, Ni, Pb, As, & Cd)] in indoor air and dusts from school environment with the respiratory health and lung inflammations of the school children. Methodology: A total of 332 randomly selected students from 24 Form 2 classrooms from 6 randomly selected secondary schools in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Information on reported respiratory symptoms and health was collected through questionnaire. FeNO was measured by NIOX VERO (50 ml/min). The classroom were inspected and dust was collected by vacuuming on special filters and were digested for heavy metals concentration by using aqua regia method and further analyzed by using ICP-MS. Multi-level logistic regression were used after adjusting for demographic data, environmental data and reported respiratory symptoms. Results: About 13% reported wheezing for past 12 months, 51.5% had dry throat, 60.8% had influenza symptoms, 50.6% had sore throat, 27.7% had irritating cough, 23.8% had breathing difficulty, 11.4% doctor diagnosed asthma and 55.1 % had respiratory infection. Heavy metals concentration in indoor air in descending order was Cr>Pb>Mn>Ni>As>Cd. Meanwhile, the heavy metals concentration in settled dusts were Mn>Pb>As>Ni>Cr>Cd. There were 49.4% had lung inflammation with FeNO values above 20 ppb. Conclusion: Heavy metals concentration (Mn, Pb & As) and indoor air pollutants [PM10 (Gravimetric), CO2 & VOCs] were related to lung inflammation and reported respiratory symptoms among the schools children. Keywords: Pollutants, heavy metal concentration, indoor air, dusts, FeNO

Item Type:	Project Paper
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Faculty:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Science
Depositing User:	Ms Norafizah Radzuan
Date Deposited:	28 Apr 2026 08:41
Last Modified:	28 Apr 2026 08:41
URI:	http://psaspb.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/2797

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