You are here:
Acute effects on blood pressure following controlled exposure to cookstove air pollution in the STOVES Study
Citation:
Fedak, K., N. Good, E. Walker, J. Balmes, R. Brook, M. Clark, T. Cole-Hunter, R. Devlin, C. L'Orange, G. Luckasen, J. Mehaffy, R. Shelton, A. Wilson, J. Volckens, AND J. Peel. Acute effects on blood pressure following controlled exposure to cookstove air pollution in the STOVES Study. Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA). American Heart Association, Dallas, TX, 8(14):e012246, (2019). https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.119.012246
Impact/Purpose:
The goal of this manuscript was to describe changes in blood pressure following exposure of human volunteers to emissions from 5 different cookstoves. The information will be useful in determining which stoves might induce the least health effects.
Description:
Exposure to air pollution from solid fuel used in residential cookstoves is considered a leading environmental risk factor for disease globally, but evidence for this relationship is largely extrapolated from literature on smoking, secondhand smoke, and ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5). We conducted a controlled human exposure study to investigate acute responses in blood pressure (BP) following exposure to air pollution emissions from cookstove technologies. Forty eight healthy adults received 2 hour exposures to five cookstove treatments (three stone fire, rocket elbow, fan rocket elbow, gasifier, and liquid petroleum gas [LPG]), spanning PM2.5 concentrations from 10 to 500 µg/m3, and a filtered air control (0 g/m3). Thirty minutes post exposure, systolic pressure was lower for the three stone fire treatment (500 µg/m3 PM2.5) compared to the control ( 2.3 mmHg, 95% confidence interval [CI] 4.5, 0.1) and trended lower for the gasifier (35 µg/m3 PM2.5; 1.8 mmHg, 95% CI 4.0, 0.4). No differences were observed at 3 hours post exposure; however, at 24 hours post exposure, mean systolic BP was 2 to 3 mmHg higher for all treatments compared to control except for the rocket elbow stove. No differences were observed in diastolic pressure for any time point or treatment. Short-term exposure to air pollution from cookstoves can elicit an increase in systolic BP within 24 hours. This response occurred across a range of stove types and PM2.5 concentrations, raising concern that even low-level exposures to cookstove air pollution may pose adverse cardiovascular effects.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Acute effects on blood pressure following controlled exposure to cookstove air pollution in the STOVES Study