TY - JOUR T1 - Household air pollution and airway obstruction in adult female cooks of rural Nepal: A comparative study among biogas and firewood users JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 44 IS - Suppl 58 SP - 3211 AU - Maniraj Neupane AU - Eva A. Rehfuess AU - Guenter Froeschl AU - Marcel Wolbers AU - Buddha Basnyat AU - Rainald Fischer Y1 - 2014/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/3211.abstract N2 - 75% of Nepalese households use biomass fuel for cooking and are exposed to hundreds of pollutants contained in the resultant household air pollution. Women, culturally responsible for cooking, are discordantly affected.We investigated the prevalence of airway obstruction (AO) in female cooks aged 30 years or older who had used either firewood or biogas as their primary cooking fuel for at least 10 years. Biogas, obtained by anaerobic digestion of organic waste, is considered a clean fuel.We conducted a cross-sectional study among 519 cooks, 219 biogas vs. 300 wood users. Household characteristics and kitchen ventilation were assessed. Lung function was measured using the American Thoracic Society guideline with a portable spirometer (EasyOne, NDD). AO was defined by values below the lower normal limit (LLN) using the Global Lung Equation 2012 or, alternatively, by FEV1/FVC ratio <70%.486 women performed spirometry, 88% produced reproducible traces. Overall prevalence of AO by LLN was 24.3% (21.9% in biogas vs. 26.1% in wood, p=0.36). Analysis adjusted for age, smoking and socioeconomic status found a significantly lower odds of developing AO among biogas users compared to wood (OR 0.48, 95% CI: 0.27-0.86, p= 0.01). Additional adjustment for ventilation, kitchen characteristics and other fuel use lead to a similar odds ratio (0.51, 0.27-0.95, p=0.03). Using the 70% cutoff yielded similar effect but not significant which may be due to under diagnosis of AO in the younger age.The prevalence of AO is very high in rural Nepal. Household biogas plants associated with the decreased odds of developing AO could contribute to reducing this disease burden. ER -