Sources, levels, and determinants of indoor air pollutants in Europe: A systematic review
Carla Martins, Vania Teofilo, Marta Clemente, Mariana Corda, Jose Fermoso, Alicia Aguado, Sandra Rodriguez, Hanns Moshammer, Alexandra Kristian, Mireia Ferri, Belen Costa-Ruiz, Perez Leticia, Wojciech Hanke, Artur Jerzy Badyda, Piotr Kępa, Katarzyna Anna Affek, Nina Doskocz, Laura Martín-Torrijos, Mehmet Oguz Mulayim, Cesar Mediavilla Martinez, Alba Gomez, Ruben Gonzalez, Isaac Cano, Josep Roca, Simon de Leede, Susana Viegas
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.