Exposure to indoor biomass fuel pollutants and asthma prevalence

J Asthma. 2010 Sep;47(7):735-41.

Exposure to indoor biomass fuel pollutants and asthma prevalence in Southeastern Kentucky: results from the Burden of Lung Disease (BOLD) study.

Barry AC, Mannino DM, Hopenhayn C, Bush H.

College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, U.S.A. acbarry@unc.edu

BACKGROUND: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory respiratory disease, characterized by episodic and reversible airflow obstruction and airway hyperresponsiveness and is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors.

METHODS: The Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) survey was used to determine the prevalence of self-reported asthma in a target population of 325,000 adults aged > or =40 in Southeastern Kentucky. Postbronchodilator spirometry was used to classify subjects based on lung function. Risk factors for asthma in this population, in particular indoor usage of biomass fuels, were evaluated.

RESULTS: The overall study population was comprised of 508 individuals, with 15.5% reporting current asthma and 5.8% reporting former asthma. In this population, the following risk factors for asthma were identified: female sex, smoking, less than a high school education, increasing body mass index (BMI), and a history of cooking indoors with coal and wood. Cooking indoors with wood and coal for more than 6 months of one’s life was shown to significantly increase the odds of reporting current asthma (odds ratio (OR) = 2.3, confidence interval (CI) 1.1, 5.0), whereas no effect was seen from a history of heating indoors with wood and coal (OR = 0.8, CI 0.4, 1.8).

CONCLUSIONS: Current or former asthma was reported by 21.3% of the adult population. A history of using biomass fuels when cooking indoors significantly increased the risk of reporting current asthma in this population.

Tagged as: asthma