Open Access Research

Pulmonary function and fuel use: A population survey

Asim Saha1*, N Mohan Rao2, PK Kulkarni3, PK Majumdar4 and HN Saiyed5

Author Affiliations

1 Occupational medicine Division, National Institute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad – 380 016, India

2 Respiratory Physiology Division, National Institute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad – 380 016, India

3 Biostatistics Division, National Institute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad – 380 016, India

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

5 Director, National Institute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad – 380 016, India

For all author emails, please log on.

Respiratory Research 2005, 6:127 doi:10.1186/1465-9921-6-127

Published: 31 October 2005

Abstract

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 FEF25–75 (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.

Keywords:
Biomass fuels; Liquefied Petroleum Gas; Pulmonary function