Evaluation of air quality in Boston housing authority multi-unit developments pre- and post-implementation of portfolio-wide smoking prohibition

INTRODUCTION. Levels of small particulate matter (PM2.5) in the air are higher in smoking homes than in smoke-free homes and confining smoking to certain areas of living space does not offer protection from secondhand smoke. This air quality study assessed whether there was a measurable difference in the PM2.5 levels of a sample of Boston Housing Authority (BHA) developments with and without smoking policies in place given that a BHA-wide smoking prohibition took effect September 30, 2012. METHODS. Paired smoking and non-smoking residents were recruited from five housing developments with and without smoking policies from August-December 2012. PM2.5 monitors were placed in resident homes for 72 hours while residents tracked exposure to tobacco smoke and other ambient conditions on hourly logs. Monitors were also placed in adjoining common hallways to assess aerosol transfer between smoking and non-smoking units. RESULTS. Thirty-two units were included for analysis; PM2.5 measurements were recorded in the homes of 15 smokers, 11 non-smokers, and six empty units to be analyzed as non-smokers. Preliminary analysis confirms our experimental hypothesis that smoking units have on average higher aerosolized particulate matter (0.127mg/m^3) than do non-smoking units (0.023mg/m^3). Furthermore, the non-smoking common areas had average levels intermediate to the two (0.025mg/m^3), suggesting that tobacco smoke particles infiltrate non-smoking areas. DISCUSSION. This air quality evaluation pre- and post-policy implementation of BHA's portfolio-wide smoking prohibition supports existing evidence that secondhand tobacco smoke permeates non-smoking areas, thus endangering vulnerable non-smokers.