| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
© 1991 Oxford University Press
research-article |
Domestic Pollution and Respiratory Illness in a Himalayan Village
,
*Sonam Norboo Memorial Hospital Leh, Ladakh, India.
**Leh Nutrition Project Ladakh, India.
Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine London.
Department of Community Medicine, Central Middlesex Hospital London.
Reprint requests: Ladakh; Dr T Norboo, Sonam Norboo Memorial Hospital, Leh, Ladakh, India 194101.
United Kingdom; Dr N G Bruce, Department of Public Health andPrimary Care, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London NW3 2PF.
Summer and winter surveys of a village in Ladakh have been used to study respiratory illness and domestic pollution from fires in an arid high altitude region of northern India. The prevalence of chronic cough with chronic phlegm rose steeply with age, and was greater among women than men. The percentage of villagers with a forced expiratory volume in one second/forced vital capacity (FEV/FVC) ratio of less than 65% also rose with age, to include 24% of men and 32% of women over 50 year in the summer survey. Lung function was significantly worse in those reporting chronic cough, independently of age and sex (p<0.001). Carbon monoxide (CO) measurements were used to assess domestic pollution from fires. Amongst the small minority of smokers (all men) CO in exhaled air was higher than in non-smoking men. In non-smoking men and the women, levels of exhaled CO were very significantly higher in winter than in summer, in summer, as were the levels of CO measured in the houses. There was a fall in FEV, (but not FVC) between summer and winter (p<0.0001), and an association was found between individual change from summer to winter in exhaled air CO and the individual change in FEV, (p<0.01). A significant negative association was found between the winter value of CO in exhaled air and FEV/FVC ratio in women (p<0.05), although a similar association in men was non-significant No significant associations were found between winter pollution levels and the presence of chronic symptoms. During winter, fires without chimneys gave higher levels of house pollution and individual CO in exhaled air than those with chimneys (p<0.01). It is concluded that domestic pollution is an important contributor to chronic respiratory illness in this community, and that an intervention study is now required to establish the benefits to health of an improved fire design.
Revised 1 January 1991
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  J. Regalado, R. Perez-Padilla, R. Sansores, J. I. Paramo Ramirez, M. Brauer, P. Pare, and S. Vedal The Effect of Biomass Burning on Respiratory Symptoms and Lung Function in Rural Mexican Women Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., October 15, 2006; 174(8): 901 - 905. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 Y. I. Baris, J. A. Hoskins, Z. Seyfikli, and A. Demir 'Biomass Lung': Primitive Biomass Combustion and Lung Disease Indoor and Built Environment, November 1, 2002; 11(6): 351 - 358. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 Q. Lan, R. S. Chapman, D. M. Schreinemachers, L. Tian, and X. He Household Stove Improvement and Risk of Lung Cancer in Xuanwei, China J Natl Cancer Inst, June 5, 2002; 94(11): 826 - 835. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 R Albalak, A R Frisancho, and G J Keeler Domestic biomass fuel combustion and chronic bronchitis in two rural Bolivian villages Thorax, November 1, 1999; 54(11): 1004 - 1008. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|