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• Mizukoshi, A
• Kumagai, K
• Yamamoto, N
• Noguchi, M
• Yoshiuchi, K
• Kumano, H
• Yanagisawa, Y
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• Mizukoshi, A
• Kumagai, K
• Yamamoto, N
• Noguchi, M
• Yoshiuchi, K
• Kumano, H
• Yanagisawa, Y
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• Kumagai, K
• Yamamoto, N
• Noguchi, M
• Yoshiuchi, K
• Kumano, H
• Yanagisawa, Y

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Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2010, 7(12), 4127-4138; doi:10.3390/ijerph7124127

Article

A Novel Methodology to Evaluate Health Impacts Caused by VOC Exposures Using Real-Time VOC and Holter Monitors

Atsushi Mizukoshi ^1,2,* , Kazukiyo Kumagai ^3,4 , Naomichi Yamamoto ^5,6 , Miyuki Noguchi ² , Kazuhiro Yoshiuchi ⁷ , Hiroaki Kumano ⁸  and Yukio Yanagisawa ²

¹ Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Technology Research Institute, Nishigaoka, 3-13-10, Kita-ku, Tokyo 115-8586, Japan ² Department of Environment Systems, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa-no-ha 5-1-5, Kashiwa-shi, Chiba 277-8563, Japan ³ Environmental Health Laboratory Branch, California Department of Public Health, 850 Marina Bay Pkwy, Richmond, CA 94804, USA ⁴ Research and Education Center of Carbon Resources, Kyushu University, 6-1, Kasugakoen, Kasuga, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan ⁵ Environmental Engineering Program, Yale University, 9 Hillhouse Ave., New Haven, CT 06520, USA ⁶ Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Ichiban-cho 8, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8472, Japan ⁷ Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan ⁸ Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Mikashima 2-579-15, Tokorozawa-shi, Saitama 359-1192, Japan

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 18 October 2010 / Accepted: 18 November 2010 / Published: 30 November 2010

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Indoor Air Pollution and Human Health)

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Abstract: While various volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are known to show neurotoxic effects, the detailed mechanisms of the action of VOCs on the autonomic nervous system are not fully understood, partially because objective and quantitative measures to indicate neural abnormalities are still under development. Nevertheless, heart rate variability (HRV) has been recently proposed as an indicative measure of the autonomic effects. In this study, we used HRV as an indicative measure of the autonomic effrects to relate their values to the personal concentrations of VOCs measured by a real-time VOC monitor. The measurements were conducted for 24 hours on seven healthy subjects under usual daily life conditions. The results showed HF powers were significantly decreased for six subjects when the changes of total volatile organic compound (TVOC) concentrations were large, indicating a suppression of parasympathetic nervous activity induced by the exposure to VOCs. The present study indicated these real-time monitoring was useful to characterize the trends of VOC exposures and their effects on autonomic nervous system.

Keywords: real-time monitoring; VOCs; heart rate variability (HRV); Holter monitor

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