RESEARCH ARTICLE Impact of Cabin Ozone Concentrations on Passenger Reported Symptoms in Commercial Aircraft Gabriel Bekö1*, Joseph G. Allen2, Charles J. Weschler1,3, Jose Vallarino2, John D. Spengler2 1 International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy, Department of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark, 2 Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, 3 Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, United States of America *
[email protected] Abstract Due to elevated ozone concentrations at high altitudes, the adverse effect of ozone on air OPEN ACCESS quality, human perception and health may be more pronounced in aircraft cabins. The asso- Citation: Bekö G, Allen JG, Weschler CJ, Vallarino J, ciation between ozone and passenger-reported symptoms has not been investigated under Spengler JD (2015) Impact of Cabin Ozone real conditions since smoking was banned on aircraft and ozone converters became more Concentrations on Passenger Reported Symptoms in Commercial Aircraft. PLoS ONE 10(5): e0128454. common. Indoor environmental parameters were measured at cruising altitude on 83 US doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0128454 domestic and international flights. Passengers completed a questionnaire about symptoms Academic Editor: Qinghua Sun, The Ohio State and satisfaction with the indoor air quality. Average ozone concentrations were relatively University, UNITED STATES low (median: 9.5 ppb). On thirteen flights (16%) ozone levels exceeded 60 ppb, while the Received: December 10, 2014 highest peak level reached 256 ppb for a single flight. The most commonly reported symp- toms were dry mouth or lips (26%), dry eyes (22.1%) and nasal stuffiness (18.9%).