Environmental health survey for children residing near mining areas in South Gobi, Mongolia.

Background: We evaluated the level and factors of heavy metal exposure to children residing in the Togttsetsii, Khanbogd, and Bayandalai soums of South Gobi province, Mongolia.

Methods: A total of 118 children aged 9-12 years were surveyed, and the level of heavy metal exposure in their bodies was investigated. Exposure was investigated by measuring concentrations of heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, and mercury in the blood; mercury concentration in the hair; and total arsenic in the urine.

Coal smoke, gestational cadmium exposure, and fetal growth.

Background: Gestational cadmium exposure may impair fetal growth. Coal smoke has largely been unexplored as a source of cadmium exposure. We investigated the relationship between gestational cadmium exposure and fetal growth, and assessed coal smoke as a potential source of airborne cadmium, among non-smoking pregnant women in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where coal combustion in home heating stoves is a major source of outdoor and indoor air pollution.

Evaluation of random forest regression and multiple linear regression for predicting indoor fine particulate matter concentrations in a highly polluted city.

Background: Indoor and outdoor fine particulate matter (PM) are both leading risk factors for death and disease, but making indoor measurements is often infeasible for large study populations.

Methods: We developed models to predict indoor PM concentrations for pregnant women who were part of a randomized controlled trial of portable air cleaners in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. We used multiple linear regression (MLR) and random forest regression (RFR) to model indoor PM concentrations with 447 independent 7-day PM measurements and 87 potential predictor variables obtained from outdoor monitoring data, questionnaires, home assessments, and geographic data sets.

The effect of portable HEPA filter air cleaner use during pregnancy on fetal growth: The UGAAR randomized controlled trial.

Background: Fine particulate matter (PM) exposure may impair fetal growth.

Aims/objectives: Our aim was to assess the effect of portable high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter air cleaner use during pregnancy on fetal growth.

Methods: The Ulaanbaatar Gestation and Air Pollution Research (UGAAR) study is a single-blind randomized controlled trial conducted in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

The effect of portable HEPA filter air cleaners on indoor PM concentrations and second hand tobacco smoke exposure among pregnant women in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: The UGAAR randomized controlled trial.

Background: Portable HEPA filter air cleaners can reduce indoor fine particulate matter (PM), but their use has not been adequately evaluated in high pollution settings. We assessed air cleaner effectiveness in reducing indoor residential PM and second hand smoke (SHS) exposures among non-smoking pregnant women in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Methods: We randomized 540 participants to an intervention group receiving 1 or 2 HEPA filter air cleaners or a control group receiving no air cleaners.

Outbound medical tourism from Mongolia: a qualitative examination of proposed domestic health system and policy responses to this trend.

Background: Medical tourism is the practice of traveling across international boundaries in order to access medical care. Residents of low-to-middle income countries with strained or inadequate health systems have long traveled to other countries in order to access procedures not available in their home countries and to take advantage of higher quality care elsewhere. In Mongolia, for example, residents are traveling to China, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, and other countries for care.

An assessment of air pollution and its attributable mortality in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Epidemiologic studies have consistently reported associations between outdoor fine particulate matter (PM) air pollution and adverse health effects. Although Asia bears the majority of the public health burden from air pollution, few epidemiologic studies have been conducted outside of North America and Europe due in part to challenges in population exposure assessment. We assessed the feasibility of two current exposure assessment techniques, land use regression (LUR) modeling and mobile monitoring, and estimated the mortality attributable to air pollution in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.