Pulmonary Function Tests In Rural Women Exposed To Biomass Fuel

Biomass fuel accounts for more than one-half of the domestic energy in most developed countries and as much as 95% in developing countries. As the combustion efficiency of biomass fuel is very low, it yields relatively high levels of products of incomplete combustion which may induce various harmful effects on the lung function. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of biomass fuel combustion on pulmonary function tests (PFTs) and comparing the PFTs between biomass users and Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) users. Method: Three hundred healthy non-smoking women were randomly selected within the age group of 21-50years for this cross-sectional study. The study group comprised of 150 subjects who used biomass fuel for cooking (Biomass users) and 150 age matched subjects who were not exposed to biomass served as the controls (LPG users). A standardized respiratory questionnaire was administered to all the subjects and pulmonary function tests were evaluated by using spiro excel. Result: The lung function parameters were significantly lower the study group, exposed to biomass fuel than the controls FEV1 (p<0.001); FEV1/FVC (p<0.001) and PEFR (p<0.001), except FVC (p