# Assessing Environmental Exposures to Persistent Organic Pollutants in Assisted Living Facilities

> **NIH NIH R21** · TRUSTEES OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $237,750

## Abstract

Project Summary Abstract
There is a fundamental gap in understanding how indoor exposures to environmental contaminants affect the
health of older adults living or spending time in senior care facilities. Continued existence of this gap represents
an important problem, because until it is filled, development of interventions and regulations to reduce health
risks associated with indoor exposures in senior care facilities will remain unattainable. The long-term goal of
our research program is to examine risks associated with exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in
senior care facilities for future development and implementation of interventions to prevent or reduce these risks.
Our objective in this application is to determine the connection between ambient conditions, personal exposures,
and biomarkers of exposure to POPs among the residents of senior care facilities located in Indiana. We hypoth-
esize that there is a significant association between ambient conditions, personal exposures, and biomarkers of
exposure in senior care facilities. Our rationale for the proposed study is that the knowledge obtained through
this research will advance our understanding of the impacts of indoor exposure to POPs on health of the resi-
dents of senior care facilities. We will use innovative non-invasive data collection techniques to pursue the fol-
lowing specific aims: 1) Determine ambient levels of five POP groups (polychlorinated biphenyls, organochlorine
pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, brominated flame retardants, and organophosphate esters) in sen-
ior care facilities in Indiana via air and dust sampling; 2) Estimate personal exposures to target chemicals among
residents of the facilities using silicone wristbands as personal passive samplers; 3) Determine biomarkers of
exposure to POPs through analysis of nails, a non-invasive biomonitoring technique. The study will recruit 100
residents of senior care facilities located in Indiana (10 facilities with 10 participants per facility) for the exposure
assessments. We will examine indoor exposures through air and dust sampling in participants' rooms. We will
use silicone wristbands as innovative passive samplers of personal exposures and we will measure biomarkers
of POPs in nail clippings collected from participants. This approach is innovative because it examines a previ-
ously unrecognized exposure to POPs in an understudied settings with particularly vulnerable population, and
because it employs silicone wristbands and nails as novel, simple, and non-invasive ways to measure personal
exposures and biomarkers of exposure. The proposed research is significant because accomplishing these spe-
cific aims will advance our understanding of how exposure to POPs may impact health of a vulnerable population
of older adults. This information will provide an essential foundation for subsequent applications to investigate
and reduce risks associated with this exposure through epidemiologi...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10022518
- **Project number:** 5R21NR017777-02
- **Recipient organization:** TRUSTEES OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Joseph R. Shaw
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $237,750
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-23 → 2023-10-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10022518

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10022518, Assessing Environmental Exposures to Persistent Organic Pollutants in Assisted Living Facilities (5R21NR017777-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10022518. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*