Incense Smoke and Increasing Carotid Intima Media Thickness: A Cross-Sectional Study of the Thai-Vietnamese Community

Abstract

Incense burning, a source of household indoor air pollution, is possible to effect on cardiovascular system. Our study sought to examine the association of long-term exposure to household incense smoke with increased carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT). A cross-sectional study was conducted 132 adults aged ≥35 years. Participants were stratified into 3 groups by their long-term household incense use; nonexposed group, non-daily exposed group, and daily exposed group. A combined mean CIMT (mean difference = 0.04 mm; P < .01) and combined maximum CIMT (mean difference = 0.09 mm; P < .01) in the daily exposed group had greater than the nonexposed group. The mean CIMT and maximum CIMT of the left common carotid artery in the daily exposed group was significantly greater than the nonexposed group ( P < .01). These findings suggest that incense burning inside the house may be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality.

Long-term incense use and the risk of end-stage renal disease among Chinese in Singapore: the Singapore Chinese health study

“…Epidemiologic studies have shown that long-term exposure to incense burning in the home environment is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality. One cross-sectional study showed that compared with non-users, daily users of incense had a higher prevalence of increased carotid intima-media thickness [14]. In our own study using data from the Singapore Chinese Health Study, we have also reported that daily exposure to incense burning at home for over 20 years was associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular mortality compared to non-users.…”

“…A study in the United Arab Emirates reported that 86.0% of the participants were exposed to incense smoke at least once a week and 44.0% of them were exposed daily [33]. Studies in China (76.1%), India (78.0%) and Thailand (67.4%) also reported high proportions of current incense users in their respective study populations [6, 14, 34]. In our study in Singapore, the prevalence of current incense use was 76.9%.…”

“…In fact, an in-vitro study has shown that the genotoxicity of particulate matter from incense burning could be higher than that from cigarette smoke [13]. Epidemiological studies suggest that incense use is associated with elevated blood pressure [6], and higher risks of cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality [7, 14], upper respiratory tract cancers [15], and nasopharyngeal cancer [16].…”

Cooking fuels use and carotid intima-media thickness during early pregnancy of women in Myanmar

“…Thus, one can extrapolate that pollution exposure is inevitable in this study population. Another limitation was we could measure only mean CIMT in this study although some scholars performed measuring mean and maximal CIMT [ 29 , 34 ]. Moreover, CIMT measurement was done at a single time point, which requires follow-ups measurements to explore CIMT levels throughout pregnancy.…”

“…Factors adjusted for Model a and Model b were in the fully adjusted model. Potential covariates were selected on the basis of evidences in recent publications [29][30][31].…”