Air pollution constitutes a threat to human health at any stage of life, and from short as well as long-term exposure. Air pollution contributes a wide range of health problems, including asthma, heart disease, and diabetes. Children may be especially susceptible to the effects of air pollution. Both outdoor and indoor air pollution likely contribute to poor developmental outcomes in children, including cognitive deficits and behavioral problems.

Most epidemiological studies carried out to date have derived air pollution measures from fixed site monitors extrapolated to individual home addresses. These models only approximate the air pollution exposure experienced by an individual and have limitations—they do not account for considerable amounts of time spent indoors or at locations other than the home. The emergence of small, wearable, and affordable air pollution monitoring devices provides unprecedented opportunity for the inclusion of personal air monitoring into large population studies. These devices are of particular interest for use with children, who 1) are highly vulnerable to the effects of air pollution exposure and 2) spend considerable amount of time in locations other than the home (daycare, etc), as well as outdoors in play and transit. However, before such devices can be rolled out on a large scale, the logistics of incorporating monitors into study protocols, as well as user acceptability, need to be tested to inform the methodology of larger studies to reduce the likelihood of poor participation or data quality.