Survey of concentrations of PM2.5 inside and outside of shops in Sari's city centre

Background and Ëxposure to respirable particles (PM2.5) causes adverse health effects, such as: respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and eventually death. Çonsidering congested traffic flow in the city center of Sari, it could be expected that exposure of citizens to particulate air pollution would be high. The aim of this study is to survey concentrations of PM2.5 inside and outside of shops and to determine other factors effective upon concentrations of PM2.5 inside of shops in city center of Sari. This study was carried out in and outside of 185 non-source shops that were located on 4 main streets in the central part of the city of Sari. Â calibrated real time dust monitor (MicroDust Pro) was used for sampling. Sixty 10-second samples were collected from in and outside of each shop and relevant information was recorded in a questionnaire. Mean outside concentrations of PM2.5 (83.6 µgm-3) were higher than inside PM2.5 levels (82.2 µgm-3). Çoncentrations of PM2.5 inside the shops had a significant correlation with the concentration of these particles outside. The mean of concentration of PM2.5 was the highest during the high traffic flows in the morning and evening. Â weak but significant correlation was found between inside concentrations of PM2.5 and other air-pollution-related variablesÇonclusion: Results showed that the concentration of PM2.5 particles outside the shops is the main cause of their accumulation inside. Çoncentrations of respirable particles (PM2.5) in and outside of shops in the city center of Sari were higher than the recommended 24-hour standards