Ventilatory Function in Nonsmoking Rural Indian Women Using Different Cooking Fuels

Abstract

Lung function parameters, forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1st s (FEV₁), peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), were measured in 3,318 nonsmoking Indian women using four different types of cooking fuels (biomass, liquified petroleum gas, kerosene and mixed). Biomass fuel users had FVC values less than 75% predicted (73.42 ± 0.90; mean ± SE) whereas in other groups it was more than 75% of predicted, though less than 80% of the predicted values. However, FEV₁, FEV₁/FVC (%) and PEFR were within normal limits in all the four groups. The absolute values of all the three parameters of lung functions were the lowest in the biomass and mixed fuel users. A negative correlation was observed between these parameters and the duration of cooking and exposure index. Thus the present study showed that, lung function, particularly FVC, is affected by indoor air pollution due to domestic cooking more so with biomass fuel. Better housing and use of smokeless devices for cooking might be helpful to avoid this effect on lung. This ventilatory impairment seems to be more of the restrictive (parenchymal) type, since obstruction could be ruled out. A longitudinal study is needed to demonstrate whether or not these changes are variable, reversible or progressing to fibrosis.

The Respiratory Health of Rural Indian Women: Does the Domestic Cooking Fuel Really Matter?

“…Thus, mixed fuel seems to be more deleterious in the impairment of the respiratory health of the rural Indian women, after robustly adjusting for the confounding variables, as was evident by a significant association of the airway reactivity with it. Similar findings as ours were reported in studies which were carried out in north India [4,5]. While the precise mechanism of how the exposure causes an impairment in the lung function is still unclear, it is known that the small particles and several of the other pollutants which are contained in the indoor smoke cause inflammation of the airways and lungs and impair the immune response.…”

“…The Exposure Index (EI) i.e. the average time per day which is spent near the fireplace multiplied by the years of exposure, was calculated [4,5]. The Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR) was measured in litres per minute according to the standards which were recommended by the American Thoracic Society [6].…”

A case‐control study of lung cancer in Karachi, Pakistan

“…Use of wood or coal as fuel for cooking has been shown to represent an important source of indoor air pollution in South Asia 11 and to affect the respiratory function of exposed nonsmoking women. 12 Indoor air pollution from heating and cooking has been shown to represent an important lung cancer hazard in various regions of China (for review, see ref. 13); data from India and Pakistan, however, are lacking.…”

Exposure assessment for respirable particulates associated with household fuel use in rural districts of Andhra Pradesh, India

“…Recent studies have shown strong associations between biomass fuel combustion and increased incidence of chronic bronchitis in women and acute respiratory infections in children (Armstrong and Campbell, 1991;Bruce et al, 1998;Ezzati and Kammen, 2001). Many recent studies have also been conducted in rural Indian villages (Behera et al, 1991;Smith 1993;Awasthi et al, 1996;Mishra and Retherford 1997). A recent study characterized the exposure -response relationship between biomass smoke exposure and acute respiratory infection in rural Kenyan households (Ezzati and Kammen, 2001).…”