Impact of the Improved Patsari Biomass Stove on Urinary Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Biomarkers and Carbon Monoxide Exposures in Rural Mexican Women

Abstract

Background: Cooking with biomass fuels on open fires results in exposure to health-damaging pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and particulate matter.Objective: We compared CO exposures and urinary PAH biomarkers pre- and postintervention with an improved biomass stove, the Patsari stove.Methods: In a subsample of 63 women participating in a randomized controlled trial in central Mexico, we measured personal CO exposure for 8 hr during the day using continuous monitors and passive samplers. In addition, first-morning urine samples obtained the next day were analyzed for monohydroxylated PAH metabolites by gas chromatography/isotope dilution/high-resolution mass spectrometry. Exposure data were collected during the use of an open fire (preintervention) and after installation of the improved stove (postintervention) for 47 women, enabling paired comparisons.Results: Median pre- and postintervention values were 4 and 1 ppm for continuous personal CO and 3 and 1 ppm for passive sampler CO, respectively. Postintervention measurements indicated an average reduction of 42% for hydroxylated metabolites of naphthalene, fluorene, phenanthrene, and pyrene on a whole-weight concentration basis (micrograms per liter of urine), and a 34% reduction on a creatinine-adjusted basis (micrograms per gram of creatinine). Pre- and postintervention geometric mean values for 1-hydroxypyrene were 3.2 and 2.0 μg/g creatinine, respectively.Conclusion: Use of the Patsari stove significantly reduced CO and PAH exposures in women. However, levels of many PAH biomarkers remained higher than those reported among smokers.

Biomonitoring of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure in pregnant women in Trujillo, Peru — Comparison of different fuel types used for cooking

“…A few studies have characterized the risk of exposure to PAHs due to residential combustion of different biomass fuels by measuring PAH levels at breathing zone height in cooking environments (Bhargava et al, 2004;Hamada et al, 1991;Oanh and Dungs, 1999;Pandit et al, 2001) and under experimental conditions (Oanh et al, 2002) and report that various PAHs are elevated during the combustion of wood, kerosene, cow dung and coal briquette. Results of biomarker studies have shown that people exposed to smoke from biomass combustion have elevated levels of hydroxy-substituted PAHs in urine (Cavanagh et al, 2007;Kato et al, 2004;Li et al, 2011;Riojas-Rodriguez et al, 2011;Viau et al, 2000), and receive a significant PAH exposure from biomass smoke RiojasRodriguez et al, 2011). Reductions in urinary two-to four-ring OH-PAHs after the installation of improved woodstoves ranged from 19% to 52% in women participating in woodstove intervention programs in the Santiago de Chuco Province in Peru , and from 20% to 42% in women participating in a similar program in the state of Michoacan in Mexico (Riojas-Rodriguez et al, 2011).…”

“…Results of biomarker studies have shown that people exposed to smoke from biomass combustion have elevated levels of hydroxy-substituted PAHs in urine (Cavanagh et al, 2007;Kato et al, 2004;Li et al, 2011;Riojas-Rodriguez et al, 2011;Viau et al, 2000), and receive a significant PAH exposure from biomass smoke RiojasRodriguez et al, 2011). Reductions in urinary two-to four-ring OH-PAHs after the installation of improved woodstoves ranged from 19% to 52% in women participating in woodstove intervention programs in the Santiago de Chuco Province in Peru , and from 20% to 42% in women participating in a similar program in the state of Michoacan in Mexico (Riojas-Rodriguez et al, 2011). In this study, we investigated exposure to PAHs among pregnant women who use uniquely one or combinations of fuel types for cooking and heating.…”

Urinary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolites as biomarkers to woodsmoke exposure — results from a controlled exposure study

“…26,27 A number of studies have used urinary OH-PAHs as the woodsmoke exposure biomarker to investigate stove emissions and evaluate the effectiveness of stove intervention efforts. 28–31 …”

A community study of the effect of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolites on heart rate variability based on the Framingham risk score

“…The half-life of urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) excretion ranges from 4 to 35 h 3. Information on the half-lives of the other OH-PAHs is scarce; however, because similar metabolites are formed under similar biological pathways, other OH-PAHs are assumed to have similar half-lives 4. Due to the short half-lives of PAH, information provided by biomonitoring of urinary OH-PAH is limited to recent exposure 3 4.…”

“…Information on the half-lives of the other OH-PAHs is scarce; however, because similar metabolites are formed under similar biological pathways, other OH-PAHs are assumed to have similar half-lives 4. Due to the short half-lives of PAH, information provided by biomonitoring of urinary OH-PAH is limited to recent exposure 3 4. Recent studies, including those from our lab,5 6 found that occupational exposure to PAH is associated with decreased cardiac autonomic function, as assessed by heart rate variability (HRV), which is one of the major mechanistic pathways for adverse cardiac events.…”