Dr Iffat Nowshin, Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Shaheed Monsur Ali Medical College, Uttara, Dhaka, Bangladesh; E-mail:
Mymensingh Med J. 2021 Jan;30(1):128-134.
Indoor air pollution from biomass smoke is now regarded as public health hazard in the developing world, where more than two billion people still rely on the use of solid biomass fuels, which have been shown to produce substantial health-damaging pollutants. Improved cook stove (ICS) reduces indoor air pollution and its health hazards. The aim of the study was to compare the respiratory symptoms between Traditional and Improved Biofuel Cookstove users in rural Bangladesh and to find out that Improved Cookstoves (ICS) users are at lower risk of respiratory symptoms than Traditional Cookstoves (TCS) users. A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted through face to face interview of 78 women using ICS and 115 women using TCS. Majority of the respondents were in the age group of 20-39 years. About 58% ICS users and 66% TCS users were illiterate. Almost 100% of the respondents were wife of household head who were the prime cook. 49% of ICS users and 30% of TCS users had been cooking for 3-4 hours everyday. Most of the households in the study area relied on biofuels (wood, scavenged twigs and grasses, dry leaves, dung and crop residues). It was found that about 28% of the prime cooks in ICS users' households and about 53% of the prime cooks in TCS users' households had been suffering from different respiratory problems at the time of survey. Among the prime cooks who had been suffering from respiratory diseases, about 2% of ICS users and 25% of TCS users had been suffering from morning cough, about 3% if ICS users and 6% of TCS users had been suffering from chest tightness. About 4% in ICS users' and about 14% in TCS users' had complaints of wheezing with dyspnoea; about 2% in ICS users' and about 24% in TCS users' had been suffering from nasal allergy and about 7% in TCS users' and nobody in ICS users' had been suffering from cough for more than 3 months. Statistical tests of significance clearly indicate that significantly more prime cooks in the TCS users' reported respiratory symptoms than prime cooks in ICS users' households.
室内空气污染来自生物质烟雾，现在被认为是发展中国家的公共健康危害，那里仍有超过 20 亿人依赖固体生物质燃料，这些燃料已被证明会产生大量损害健康的污染物。改良的炉灶（ICS）减少了室内空气污染及其对健康的危害。本研究的目的是比较孟加拉国农村地区传统生物燃料炉灶和改良生物燃料炉灶使用者的呼吸症状，并发现改良炉灶（ICS）使用者患呼吸症状的风险低于传统炉灶（TCS）使用者。通过对 78 名使用 ICS 的妇女和 115 名使用 TCS 的妇女进行面对面访谈，进行了一项横断面比较研究。大多数受访者年龄在 20-39 岁之间。约 58%的 ICS 用户和 66%的 TCS 用户是文盲。几乎 100%的受访者是家庭主妇，她们是主要的厨师。49%的 ICS 用户和 30%的 TCS 用户每天都要烹饪 3-4 个小时。研究地区的大多数家庭都依赖生物燃料（木材、拾来的树枝和草、干树叶、粪便和农作物残余物）。结果发现，ICS 用户家庭中约有 28%的主要厨师和 TCS 用户家庭中约有 53%的主要厨师在调查时患有不同的呼吸问题。在患有呼吸疾病的主要厨师中，约有 2%的 ICS 用户和 25%的 TCS 用户患有晨咳，约有 3%的 ICS 用户和 6%的 TCS 用户患有胸闷。ICS 用户中约有 4%和 TCS 用户中约有 14%有喘息伴呼吸困难；ICS 用户中约有 2%和 TCS 用户中约有 24%有鼻过敏；TCS 用户中约有 7%和 ICS 用户中没有人有咳嗽超过 3 个月。统计学显著性检验清楚地表明，TCS 用户的主要厨师报告的呼吸症状明显多于 ICS 用户的主要厨师。
