Correlation of urinary 1-hydroxypyrene and 2-naphthol with total suspended particulates in ambient air in municipal middle-school students in Korea

The authors investigated Korean municipal middle school students to ascertain whether urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) and 2-naphthol-markers for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAN) exposure-reflect PAHs in ambient air. The authors used the Pray absorption method, which is an index of ambient-air PAH exposure, to collect total suspended particulate (TSP) data. The authors measured urinary 1-OHP and 2-naphthol concentrations in 137 nonsmoking students in 4 municipal middle schools within 1 km of ambient air monitoring stations. The median concentrations of urinary 1-OHP and 2-naphthol in the study were 0.09 nmole/mol creatinine and 2.19 mumol/mol creatinine, respectively, and the geometric means were 0.10 nmole/mol creatinine and 2.47 mumol/mol creatinine, respectively. Urinary 1-OHP concentration did not correlate significantly with any TSP index. There were significant correlations between urinary 2-naphthol level and the daily mean TSP level calculated for 2 days before survey, for 1 day before survey, and for the day of survey. These data suggest that urinary 2-naphthol may be a good marker for inhalation exposure to PAHs in ambient air.