Díaz Esperanza, Bruce Nigel, Pope Dan, Díaz Anaité, Smith Kirk R, Smith-Sivertsen Tone
Department for Public Health and Primary Health Care, University of Bergen, Norway.
BMC Int Health Hum Rights. 2008 Jun 5;8:7. doi: 10.1186/1472-698X-8-7.
Indoor air pollution (IAP) from solid fuels is a serious health problem in low-income countries that can be alleviated using improved stoves. Although women are the principal users, few studies have investigated the self-assessed impact of the stoves on their health and lives.
This study was conducted in rural highland Guatemala, involving 89 intervention and 80 control Mayan Indian young women (mean 27.8 years, SD 7.2). Outcomes were assessed after approximately 18 months use of the new stove. Our objectives were to compare self-rated health and change in health among women participating in a randomised control trial comparing a chimney stove with an open fire, to describe impacts on women's daily lives and their perceptions of how reduced kitchen smoke affects their own and their children's health.
On intention-to-treat analysis, 52.8% of intervention women reported improvement in health, compared to 23.8% of control women (p < 0.001). Among 84 intervention women who reported reduced kitchen smoke as an important change, 88% linked this to improvement in their own health, particularly for non-respiratory symptoms (for example eye discomfort, headache); 57% linked reduced smoke to improvement in their children's health, particularly sore eyes.
Women's perception of their health was improved, but although smoke reduction was valued, this was linked mainly with alleviation of non-respiratory symptoms like eye discomfort and headache. More focus on such symptoms may help in promoting demand for improved stoves and cleaner fuels, but education about more severe consequences of IAP exposure is also required.
在低收入国家，固体燃料造成的室内空气污染（IAP）是一个严重的健康问题，使用改良炉灶可缓解这一问题。尽管妇女是主要使用者，但很少有研究调查炉灶对她们健康和生活的自我评估影响。
本研究在危地马拉农村高地进行，涉及89名参与干预的玛雅印第安年轻女性和80名对照女性（平均年龄27.8岁，标准差7.2）。在使用新炉灶约18个月后评估结果。我们的目标是比较参与将烟囱炉灶与明火进行对比的随机对照试验的女性的自评健康状况和健康变化，描述对女性日常生活的影响以及她们对减少厨房烟雾如何影响自身和子女健康的看法。
在意向性分析中，52.8%的干预组女性报告健康状况有所改善，而对照组女性为23.8%（p<0.001）。在84名报告厨房烟雾减少是一项重要变化的干预组女性中，88%将此与自身健康改善联系起来，特别是对于非呼吸道症状（如眼睛不适、头痛）；57%将烟雾减少与子女健康改善联系起来，特别是眼睛疼痛。
女性对自身健康的认知得到改善，但尽管减少烟雾受到重视，这主要与缓解眼睛不适和头痛等非呼吸道症状有关。更多关注此类症状可能有助于促进对改良炉灶和清洁燃料的需求，但也需要开展关于IAP暴露更严重后果的教育。
