A STUDY OF PULMONARY FUNCTION TEST IN WOMEN USING DOMESTIC COOKING FUEL FOR COOKING

Abstract

The objective of this study was to compare the pulmonary functions in healthy nonsmoking women who used either biomass or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as their sole cooking fuel. The effects of passive smoking, ventilation, overcrowding and cooking index were also taken into account. The study was conducted over a period of two years from January 2007.Sixty healthy non-smoking women were included 30 cooked solely with biomass and 30 cooked with LPG. A standardized respiratory symptoms questionnaire was administered to all the subjects and spirometry was carried out. Passive smoking showed significant difference between the two groups. Statistically significant differences was found in lung functions between two groups FVC, FEV1, FEV1% pred, PEFR, PEFR % which was significantly lower (P<0.05) in women using biomass but FEV1% no statistical difference. The step-wise student‘t’ test analysis showed no correlation between cooking fuel and the pulmonary functions. Exposure to biomass fumes during cooking causes lung dysfunction in women. Some measures should be taken to prevent such exposure to the biomass fumes by proper ventilation, such as using a chimney to vent out the fumes, or by using fuels those do not produce such fumes.