Pulmonary function and fuel use: A population survey

Respiratory Research

HN Saiyed¹  PK Majumdar⁴  PK Kulkarni²  N Mohan Rao³  Asim Saha⁴ 

[1]Director, National Institute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad – 380 016, India

[2]Biostatistics Division, National Institute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad – 380 016, India

[3]Respiratory Physiology Division, National Institute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad – 380 016, India

[4]Occupational medicine Division, National Institute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad – 380 016, India

关键词: Pulmonary function;    Liquefied Petroleum Gas;    Biomass fuels;   

Others  :  1163343
DOI  :  10.1186/1465-9921-6-127

 received in 2005-09-06, accepted in 2005-10-31,  发布年份 2005

【 摘 要 】

Background

In the backdrop of conflicting reports (some studies reported adverse outcomes of biomass fuel use whereas few studies reported absence of any association between adverse health effect and fuel use, may be due to presence of large number of confounding variables) on the respiratory health effects of biomass fuel use, this cross sectional survey was undertaken to understand the role of fuel use on pulmonary function.

Method

This study was conducted in a village of western India involving 369 randomly selected adult subjects (165 male and 204 female). All the subjects were interviewed and were subjected to pulmonary function test. Analysis of covariance was performed to compare the levels of different pulmonary function test parameters in relation to different fuel use taking care of the role of possible confounding factors.

Results

This study showed that biomass fuel use (especially wood) is an important factor for deterioration of pulmonary function (particularly in female). FEV₁ (p < .05), FEV₁ % (p < .01), PEFR (p < .05) and FEF_25–75 (p < .01) values were significantly lower in biomass fuel using females than nonusers. Comparison of only biomass fuel use vs. only LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) use and only wood vs. only LPG use has showed that LPG is a safer fuel so far as deterioration of pulmonary function is concerned. This study observes some deterioration of pulmonary function in the male subjects also, who came from biomass fuel using families.

Conclusion

This study concluded that traditional biomass fuels like wood have adverse effects on pulmonary function.

【 授权许可】

   
2005 Saha et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 参考文献 】

• [1]World Resources Institute: UNEP, UNDP, World Bank: 1998–99 World Resources: a guide to the global environment. Oxford University Press; 1999.
• [2]World Health Organization: Health and environment in sustainable development. In WHO/EHG/97.8. Geneva, World Health Organization; 1997.
• [3]Smith K, Samet J, Romieu I, Bruce N: Indoor air pollution in developing countries and acute respiratory infections in children. Thorax 2000, 55:518-532.
• [4]Ezzati M, Kammen D: Indoor air pollution from biomass combustion and acute respiratory infections in Kenya: an exposure-response study. Lancet 2001, 358(9282):619-24.
• [5]Bruce N, Perez-Padilla R, Alablak R: Indoor air pollution in developing countries: a major environmental and public health challenge. WHO Bulletin 2000, 78:1078-1092.
• [6]Kiraz K, Kart L, Demir R, Oymak S, Gulmez I, Unalacak M, Ozesmi M: Chronic pulmonary disease in rural women exposed to biomass fumes. Clin Invest Med 2003, 26(5):243-8.
• [7]Mumford JL, et al.: Lung cancer and indoor air pollution in Xuan Wei, China. Science 1987, 235:217-220.
• [8]Smith KR, Liu Y: Îndoor air pollution in developing countries. In Epidemiology of lung cancer. Lung biology in health and disease. Edited by Samet J. New York, MarcelDekker; 1993.
• [9]Sumer H, Turaclar UT, Onarlioglu T, Ozdemir L, Zwahlen M: The association of biomass fuel combustion on pulmonary function tests in the adult population of Mid-Anatolia. Soz Praventivmed 2004, 49(4):247-53.
• [10]Dutt D, Srinivasa DK, Rotti SB, Sahai A, Konar D: Effect of indoor air pollution on the respiratory system of women using different fuels for cooking in an urban slum of Pondicherry. Natl Med J India 1996, 9(3):113-7.
• [11]Behera D, Jindal SK, Malhotra HS: Ventilatory function in nonsmoking rural Indian women using different cooking fuels. Respiration 1994, 61(2):89-92.
• [12]Behera D, Chakrabarti T, Khanduja KL: Effect of Exposure to Domestic Cooking Fuels on Bronchial Asthma. Indian J Chest Dis Allied Sci 2001, 43(1):19-25.
• [13]Behera D, Sood P, Singh S: Passive smoking, domestic fuels and lung function in north Indian children. Indian J Chest Dis Allied Sci 1998, 40(2):89-98.
• [14]Reddy TS, Guleria R, Sinha S, Sharma SK, Pande JN: Domestic Cooking Fuel and Lung Functions in Healthy Non-smoking Women. Indian J Chest Dis Allied Sci 2004, 46:85-90.
• [15]Bruce N, Neufeld L, Boy E, West C: Indoor biofuel air pollution and respiratory health: the role of confounding factors among women in highland Guatemala. Int J Epidemiol 1998, 27(3):454-8.
• [16]WHO, Geneva: : Working paper from WHO Consultation – indoor air pollution from biomass fuel. 1992.