Domestic smoke pollution and prevalence of chronic bronchitis/asthma in a rural area of Kashmir.

An increased prevalence of chronic bronchitis (12.21%) was observed in Gujjar females of a rural area of Kashmir valley in this study. Screening of adult population of two randomly selected village showed an overall prevalence rate of 7.7% for chronic bronchitis and 1.96% for asthma. This increased prevalence of chronic bronchitis was attributed to exposure to domestic smoke pollution, lower socio-economic status, illiteracy, poor housing conditions and overcrowding.