Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) exposure can induce a range of adverse human health effects. To date,
however, personal VOCs exposure and residential indoor and outdoor VOCs levels have not been well
characterized in the mainland of China, less is known about health risk of personal exposure to VOCs. In this
study, personal exposures for 12 participants as well as residential indoor/outdoor, workplace and in vehicle
VOCs concentrations were measured simultaneously in Tianjin, China. All VOCs samples were collected using
passive samplers for 5 days and were analyzed using Thermal Desorption GC-MS method. U.S. Environmental
Protect Agency's Inhalation Unit Risks were used to calculate the inhalation cancer health risk. To assess
uncertainty of health risk estimate, Monte Carlo simulation and sensitivity analysis were implemented.
Personal exposures were greater than residential indoor exposures as expected with the exception of carbon
tetrachloride. Exposure assessment showed modeled and measured concentrations are statistically linearly
correlated for all VOCs (Pb0.01) except chloroform, confirming that estimated personal exposure using timeweighted
model can provide reasonable estimate of personal inhalation exposure to VOCs. Indoor smoking
and recent renovation were identified as two major factors influencing personal exposure based on the timeactivity
pattern and factor analysis. According to the cancer risk analysis of personal exposure, benzene,
chloroform, carbon tetrachloride and 1,3-butadiene had median upper-bound lifetime cancer risks that
exceeded the U.S. EPA benchmark of 1 per one million, and benzene presented the highest median risks at
about 22 per one million population. The median cumulative cancer risk of personal exposure to 5 VOCs was
approximately 44 per million, followed by indoor exposure (37 per million) and in vehicle exposure (36 per
million). Sensitivity analysis suggested that improving the accuracy of exposure measurement in further
research would advance the health risk assessment.