Sri Lanka Pilot Study to Examine Respiratory Health Effects and Personal PM2.5 Exposures from Cooking Indoors

Abstract

A pilot study of indoor air pollution produced by biomass cookstoves was conducted in 53 homes in Sri Lanka to assess respiratory conditions associated with stove type (“Anagi” or “Traditional”), kitchen characteristics (e.g., presence of a chimney in the home, indoor cooking area), and concentrations of personal and indoor particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5). Each primary cook reported respiratory conditions for herself (cough, phlegm, wheeze, or asthma) and for children (wheeze or asthma) living in her household. For cooks, the presence of at least one respiratory condition was significantly associated with 48-h log-transformed mean personal PM2.5 concentration (PR = 1.35; p < 0.001). The prevalence ratio (PR) was significantly elevated for cooks with one or more respiratory conditions if they cooked without a chimney (PR = 1.51, p = 0.025) and non-significantly elevated if they cooked in a separate but poorly ventilated building (PR = 1.51, p = 0.093). The PRs were significantly elevated for children with wheeze or asthma if a traditional stove was used (PR = 2.08, p = 0.014) or if the cooking area was not partitioned from the rest of the home (PR = 2.46, p = 0.012). For the 13 children for whom the cooking area was not partitioned from the rest of the home, having a respiratory condition was significantly associated with log-transformed indoor PM2.5 concentration (PR = 1.51; p = 0.014).

Uncontrolled and under-diagnosed asthma in a Damascus shelter during the Syrian crisis

“…It is plausible because individuals with PTSD exhibit an altered phenotype of regulatory T cells (12) and furthermore, it has been suggested that asthma onset can be linked to family/personal disasters (13) which is the case in these shelter dwellers (loss of home and/or family member).There are also other adverse factors in shelter living. For example, cooking in the same room where the family lives may increase the exposure to particulate matters (PM 2.5 ) which can exacerbate asthma (14). Other triggers include use of detergent such as bleach (sodium hypochlorite), which is widely used in Syria (15) and amongst the shelter dwellers, exposure to SHS (16,17) and poverty (17,18) (the study participants had an average daily income of less than 2 USD/day).…”

Household Air Pollution from Burning Biomass for Cooking and Heating – A Review of Health Hazards and Intervention Programs

“…In a study done to quantify PM2.5 exposure from cooking using biomass to adults and children in rural households in Sri Lanka, researchers used two PM monitors per household; one on the cook, and the other on the cook stove which was used to monitor the PM concentration in the vicinity of the kitchen and was also used as a surrogate to measure the exposure of the children [11].…”

“…It was found that there was a positive correlation in the number of respiratory health conditions the cook and their children had with respect to their PM exposure. Health effects included asthma, coughing, phlegm, and wheezing [11].…”

“…In Sri Lanka, researchers found that households that used a traditional stoves or stoves without a chimney, and those that had no ventilation sources in the house, had higher respiratory health conditions, correlating to the fact that lack of ventilation to move the smoke out, increases the exposure of the residents to the pollutants from cooking [11].…”

“…With its innate pollutant-emitting nature, it is critical that governments in countries with high biomass use as fuel, implement measures to support its people to transition towards cleaner sources of fuel and high efficient cooking devices. There is an abundance of research on this topic that has shown that improved biomass cook stoves, such as cook stoves with chimneys [11,15] and cook stoves with higher combustion efficiency and those that use cleaner fuels have helped reduce exposure from biomass burning. Other studies have shown that, on both global and regional (Nepal, Kenya, and Sudan) levels, there are several economic benefits and time savings of household energy interventions such as switching to cleaner fuels, and using improved cook stoves [25,26].…”