The effect of exposure to biomass smoke on respiratory symptoms in adult rural and urban Nepalese populations

Om P Kurmi; Sean Semple; Graham S Devereux; Santosh Gaihre; Kin Bong Hubert Lam; Steven Sadhra; Markus F C Steiner; Padam Simkhada; William C S Smith; Jon G Ayres

doi:10.1186/1476-069X-13-92

The effect of exposure to biomass smoke on respiratory symptoms in adult rural and urban Nepalese populations

Om P Kurmi, Sean Semple, Graham S Devereux, Santosh Gaihre, Kin Bong Hubert Lam, Steven Sadhra, Markus F C Steiner, Padam Simkhada, William C S Smith, Jon G Ayres

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Half of the world's population is exposed to household air pollution from biomass burning. This study aimed to assess the relationship between respiratory symptoms and biomass smoke exposure in rural and urban Nepal.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study of adults (16+ years) in a rural population (n = 846) exposed to biomass smoke and a non-exposed urban population (n = 802) in Nepal. A validated questionnaire was used along with measures of indoor air quality (PM2.5 and CO) and outdoor PM2.5.

RESULTS: Both men and women exposed to biomass smoke reported more respiratory symptoms compared to those exposed to clean fuel. Women exposed to biomass were more likely to complain of ever wheeze (32.0 % vs. 23.5%; p = 0.004) and breathlessness (17.8% vs. 12.0%, p = 0.017) compared to males with tobacco smoking being a major risk factor. Chronic cough was similar in both the biomass and non-biomass smoke exposed groups whereas chronic phlegm was reported less frequently by participants exposed to biomass smoke. Higher PM2.5 levels (≥2 SDs of the 24-hour mean) were associated with breathlessness (OR = 2.10, 95% CI 1.47, 2.99) and wheeze (1.76, 1.37, 2.26).

CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that while those exposed to biomass smoke had higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms, urban dwellers (who were exposed to higher ambient air pollution) were more at risk of having productive cough.

Original language	English
Article number	92
Number of pages	8
Journal	Environmental health : a global access science source
Volume	13
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-13-92
Publication status	Published - 6 Nov 2014
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

© 2014 Kurmi et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

Keywords

Adolescent
Adult
Air Pollutants/toxicity
Air Pollution, Indoor/adverse effects
Biomass
Cough/chemically induced
Cross-Sectional Studies
Dyspnea/chemically induced
Environmental Exposure
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Nepal/epidemiology
Prevalence
Respiratory Sounds/etiology
Risk Factors
Rural Population
Smoke/adverse effects
Urban Population
Young Adult
Breathlessness
Phlegm
Solid fuel
Household air pollution

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1186/1476-069X-13-92Licence: CC BY

PublishedFinal published version, 587 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Kurmi, O. P., Semple, S., Devereux, G. S., Gaihre, S., Lam, K. B. H., Sadhra, S., Steiner, M. F. C., Simkhada, P., Smith, W. C. S., & Ayres, J. G. (2014). The effect of exposure to biomass smoke on respiratory symptoms in adult rural and urban Nepalese populations. Environmental health : a global access science source, 13, Article 92. https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-13-92

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abstract = "BACKGROUND: Half of the world's population is exposed to household air pollution from biomass burning. This study aimed to assess the relationship between respiratory symptoms and biomass smoke exposure in rural and urban Nepal.METHODS: A cross-sectional study of adults (16+ years) in a rural population (n = 846) exposed to biomass smoke and a non-exposed urban population (n = 802) in Nepal. A validated questionnaire was used along with measures of indoor air quality (PM2.5 and CO) and outdoor PM2.5.RESULTS: Both men and women exposed to biomass smoke reported more respiratory symptoms compared to those exposed to clean fuel. Women exposed to biomass were more likely to complain of ever wheeze (32.0 % vs. 23.5%; p = 0.004) and breathlessness (17.8% vs. 12.0%, p = 0.017) compared to males with tobacco smoking being a major risk factor. Chronic cough was similar in both the biomass and non-biomass smoke exposed groups whereas chronic phlegm was reported less frequently by participants exposed to biomass smoke. Higher PM2.5 levels (≥2 SDs of the 24-hour mean) were associated with breathlessness (OR = 2.10, 95% CI 1.47, 2.99) and wheeze (1.76, 1.37, 2.26).CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that while those exposed to biomass smoke had higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms, urban dwellers (who were exposed to higher ambient air pollution) were more at risk of having productive cough.",

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doi = "10.1186/1476-069X-13-92",

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AU - Kurmi, Om P

AU - Semple, Sean

AU - Devereux, Graham S

AU - Gaihre, Santosh

AU - Lam, Kin Bong Hubert

AU - Sadhra, Steven

AU - Steiner, Markus F C

AU - Simkhada, Padam

AU - Smith, William C S

AU - Ayres, Jon G

N1 - © 2014 Kurmi et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

PY - 2014/11/6

Y1 - 2014/11/6

N2 - BACKGROUND: Half of the world's population is exposed to household air pollution from biomass burning. This study aimed to assess the relationship between respiratory symptoms and biomass smoke exposure in rural and urban Nepal.METHODS: A cross-sectional study of adults (16+ years) in a rural population (n = 846) exposed to biomass smoke and a non-exposed urban population (n = 802) in Nepal. A validated questionnaire was used along with measures of indoor air quality (PM2.5 and CO) and outdoor PM2.5.RESULTS: Both men and women exposed to biomass smoke reported more respiratory symptoms compared to those exposed to clean fuel. Women exposed to biomass were more likely to complain of ever wheeze (32.0 % vs. 23.5%; p = 0.004) and breathlessness (17.8% vs. 12.0%, p = 0.017) compared to males with tobacco smoking being a major risk factor. Chronic cough was similar in both the biomass and non-biomass smoke exposed groups whereas chronic phlegm was reported less frequently by participants exposed to biomass smoke. Higher PM2.5 levels (≥2 SDs of the 24-hour mean) were associated with breathlessness (OR = 2.10, 95% CI 1.47, 2.99) and wheeze (1.76, 1.37, 2.26).CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that while those exposed to biomass smoke had higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms, urban dwellers (who were exposed to higher ambient air pollution) were more at risk of having productive cough.

AB - BACKGROUND: Half of the world's population is exposed to household air pollution from biomass burning. This study aimed to assess the relationship between respiratory symptoms and biomass smoke exposure in rural and urban Nepal.METHODS: A cross-sectional study of adults (16+ years) in a rural population (n = 846) exposed to biomass smoke and a non-exposed urban population (n = 802) in Nepal. A validated questionnaire was used along with measures of indoor air quality (PM2.5 and CO) and outdoor PM2.5.RESULTS: Both men and women exposed to biomass smoke reported more respiratory symptoms compared to those exposed to clean fuel. Women exposed to biomass were more likely to complain of ever wheeze (32.0 % vs. 23.5%; p = 0.004) and breathlessness (17.8% vs. 12.0%, p = 0.017) compared to males with tobacco smoking being a major risk factor. Chronic cough was similar in both the biomass and non-biomass smoke exposed groups whereas chronic phlegm was reported less frequently by participants exposed to biomass smoke. Higher PM2.5 levels (≥2 SDs of the 24-hour mean) were associated with breathlessness (OR = 2.10, 95% CI 1.47, 2.99) and wheeze (1.76, 1.37, 2.26).CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that while those exposed to biomass smoke had higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms, urban dwellers (who were exposed to higher ambient air pollution) were more at risk of having productive cough.

KW - Adolescent

KW - Adult

KW - Air Pollutants/toxicity

KW - Air Pollution, Indoor/adverse effects

KW - Biomass

KW - Cough/chemically induced

KW - Cross-Sectional Studies

KW - Dyspnea/chemically induced

KW - Environmental Exposure

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Male

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Nepal/epidemiology

KW - Prevalence

KW - Respiratory Sounds/etiology

KW - Risk Factors

KW - Rural Population

KW - Smoke/adverse effects

KW - Urban Population

KW - Young Adult

KW - Breathlessness

KW - Phlegm

KW - Solid fuel

KW - Household air pollution

U2 - 10.1186/1476-069X-13-92

DO - 10.1186/1476-069X-13-92

M3 - Article

C2 - 25374400

SN - 1476-069X

VL - 13

JO - Environmental health : a global access science source

JF - Environmental health : a global access science source

M1 - 92

ER -

The effect of exposure to biomass smoke on respiratory symptoms in adult rural and urban Nepalese populations

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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