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Household fuel use and biomarkers of inflammation and respiratory illness among rural South African Women
Citation:
Misra, A., M. Longnecker, K. Dionisio, R. Bornman, G. Travlos, S. Brar, AND K. Whitworth. Household fuel use and biomarkers of inflammation and respiratory illness among rural South African Women. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH. Academic Press Incorporated, Orlando, FL, 166:112-116, (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2018.05.016
Impact/Purpose:
Background. Literature suggests that exposure to household air pollution from biomass fuels increases biomarkers of inflammation. However, most research was conducted in Indian and Central America. Work needs to be done in the African population as cultural practices around cooking can impact household exposure. Methods. The analysis includes 415 women from the South African Study of Women and Babies (SOWB) recruited from 2010-2011. Demographics, cooking practices, medical history and blood pressure measurements were obtained. Plasma levels of: interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, interleukin-8, tumor necrosis factor-α, C - reactive protein, serum amyloid A, vascular cell- and intracellular- adhesion molecules were measured. Exposure surrogate of self-reported usual cooking fuel (wood vs. electricity) was used. Associations between cooking fuel and biomarkers of inflammation and respiratory conditions were examined using crude and age-adjusted linear and logistic regression models. Results. No evidence of an association between fuel and inflammation or fuel-use and breathlessness or respiratory diseases, or abnormal blood pressure. However, compared with electricity-users, wood-users had 42% higher odds of reporting wheezing/tightness (95% confidence interval (CI)=0.73-2.78). Conclusion. Although our results indicate little evidence of an association between cooking fuel and biomarkers of inflammation, rural South African women may be less exposed to household air pollution given the cleaner-burning nature of wood.
Description:
Though literature suggests a positive association between use of biomass fuel for cooking and inflammation, few studies among women in rural South Africa exist. We included 415 women from the South African Study of Women and Babies (SOWB), recruited from 2010 to 2011. We obtained demographics, general medical history and usual source of cooking fuel (wood, electricity) via baseline questionnaire. A nurse obtained height, weight, blood pressure, and blood samples. We measured plasma concentrations of a suite of inflammatory markers (e.g., interleukins, tumor necrosis factor-α, C-reactive protein). We assessed associations between cooking fuel and biomarkers of inflammation and respiratory symptoms/illness using crude and adjusted linear and logistic regression models. We found little evidence of an association between fuel-use and biomarkers of inflammation, pre-hypertension/hypertension, or respiratory illnesses. Though imprecise, we found 41% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.72–2.77) higher odds of self-reported wheezing/chest tightness among wood-users compared with electricity-users. Though studies among other populations report positive findings between biomass fuel use and inflammation, it is possible that women in the present study experience lower exposures to household air pollution given the cleaner burning nature of wood compared with other biomass fuels (e.g., coal, dung).
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Household fuel use and biomarkers of inflammation and respiratory illness among rural South African Women
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2018.05.016