Behera
Senior Professor
Dept. of Pulmonary Medicine
Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research
Chandigarh
India
Title: Indoor Air Pollution and COPD
Biography
Biography: Behera
Abstract
More than 400 million people worldwide suffer from COPD. The estimated burden in India is about 15 million cases (~9 million males and ~6 million females)[INSEARCH study IJTLD 2012]. Besides smoking air pollution, particularly indoor air pollution is one important risk factor for COPD in iNdia and other developing countries. Women who cook with solid fuels have increased respiratory symptoms including chronic cough and phlegm. Decrease in lung function and COPD is present in 7 % of biomass using women who never smoked in their life. In contrast, only 1.8% of never-smoking LPG users had COPD. A number of studies have showed that in India, the incidence of chronic cor pulmonale is similar in men and women despite the fact that 75% of the men and only 10% women are smokers. In women, chronic cor pulmonale was found to be more common in younger age. This has been attributed to domestic air pollution as a result of the burning of solid biomass fuels leading to chronic bronchitis and emphysema which result in chronic cor pulmonale. A number of studies by us (Behera et al) have shown that exposure to biomass fuel produces various respiratory symptoms including COPD, impaired lung functions (Lung function, particularly FVC, is affected by indoor air pollution due to domestic cooking more so with biomass fuel), high levels of blood carboxyhemoglobin levels, and respiratory symptoms in children (Mixed fuel and kerosene fuel had worst effects on respiratory system in children whose households used these fuels).