title: Pulmonary function and fuel use: a population survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In the backdrop of conflicting reports (some studies reported adverse outcomes of biomass fuel use whereas few studies reported absence of any association between adverse health effect and fuel use, may be due to presence of large number of confounding variables) on the respiratory health effects of biomass fuel use, this cross sectional survey was undertaken to understand the role of fuel use on pulmonary function.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was conducted in a village of western India involving 369 randomly selected adult subjects (165 male and 204 female). All the subjects were interviewed and were subjected to pulmonary function test. Analysis of covariance was performed to compare the levels of different pulmonary function test parameters in relation to different fuel use taking care of the role of possible confounding factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This study showed that biomass fuel use (especially wood) is an important factor for deterioration of pulmonary function (particularly in female). FEV1 (p < .05), FEV1% (p < .01), PEFR (p < .05) and FEF(25-75) (p < .01) values were significantly lower in biomass fuel using females than nonusers. Comparison of only biomass fuel use vs. only LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) use and only wood vs. only LPG use has showed that LPG is a safer fuel so far as deterioration of pulmonary function is concerned. This study observes some deterioration of pulmonary function in the male subjects also, who came from biomass fuel using families.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study concluded that traditional biomass fuels like wood have adverse effects on pulmonary function.
authors.affiliation: Occupational Medicine Division, National Institute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad-380 016, India. asimsaha2311@yahoo.co.in
authors.forename: Asim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saha
authors.forename: N Mohan
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Kulkarni
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Majumdar
authors.forename: H N
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Saiyed
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005579:Fossil Fuels / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D015995:Prevalence; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D005579:Fossil Fuels