{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T09:37:13Z","timestamp":1792143433831,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,21]],"date-time":"2021-05-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1621555200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002486","name":"Hankuk University of Foreign Studies","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["-"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["-"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002486","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100010700","name":"National Institute of Environmental Research","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NIER-2017-01-01-181"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NIER-2017-01-01-181"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100010700","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Underground shopping districts (USDs) are susceptible to severe indoor air pollution, which can adversely impact human health. We measured 24 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in 13 USDs throughout South Korea from July to October 2017, and the human risk of inhaling hazardous substances was evaluated. The sum of the concentrations of the 24 VOCs was much higher inside the USDs than in the open air. Based on factor analysis, six indoor air pollution sources were identified. Despite the expectation of a partial outdoor effect, the impacts of the indoor emissions were significant, resulting in an indoor\/outdoor (I\/O) ratio of 5.9 and indicating elevated indoor air pollution. However, the effects of indoor emissions decreased, and the contributions of the pollution sources reduced when the USD entrances were open and the stores were closed. Although benzene, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde exhibited lower concentrations compared to previous studies, they still posed health risks in both indoor and outdoor settings. Particularly, while the indoor excess cancer risk (ECR) of formaldehyde was ~10 times higher than its outdoor ECR, benzene had a low I\/O ratio (1.1) and a similar ECR value. Therefore, indoor VOC concentrations could be reduced by managing inputs of open air into USDs.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph18115508","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,21]],"date-time":"2021-05-21T13:15:15Z","timestamp":1621602915000},"page":"5508","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Volatile Organic Compounds in Underground Shopping Districts in Korea"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2053-0482","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Soo Ran","family":"Won","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Indoor Environment and Noise Research Division, National Institute of Environmental Research, Incheon 22689, Korea"},{"name":"Department of Environmental Science, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Yongin 17035, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5353-1919","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Young Sung","family":"Ghim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Environmental Science, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Yongin 17035, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jeonghoon","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Indoor Environment and Noise Research Division, National Institute of Environmental Research, Incheon 22689, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jungmin","family":"Ryu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Indoor Environment and Noise Research Division, National Institute of Environmental Research, Incheon 22689, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8734-3281","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"In-Keun","family":"Shim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Indoor Environment and Noise Research Division, National Institute of Environmental Research, Incheon 22689, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jongchun","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Indoor Environment and Noise Research Division, National Institute of Environmental Research, Incheon 22689, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"206","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1600-0668.2008.00580.x","article-title":"Formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds in Hong Kong homes: Concentrations and impact factors","volume":"19","author":"Guo","year":"2009","journal-title":"Indoor Air"},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"182","article-title":"Estimation of the formaldehyde concentration of subterranean shopping centers according to their spatial configuration and renovation","volume":"25","author":"Sim","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. 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