Indoor Air Pollutants and Respiratory Problems among Dhaka City Dwellers
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Background: Indoor air pollutants becoming a great concern for public health. Indoor air pollution can cause more harmful health impacts than that of outdoor air pollution.
Objectives: The study was conducted to investigate some selected indoor air pollutants and respiratory problems among the households of Dhaka city.
Materials and methods: This was a cross sectional study conducted among the households in Dhaka city. A total of 97 households from the selected areas of Dhaka city were included to measure some selected indoor pollutants and 288 individuals from these households were investigated for any respiratory problems. The indoor pollutants were carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon, formaldehyde and nitrogen dioxide.
Results: The indoor air the pollutants which were found to be at higher levels in the studied households were carbon dioxide (≥600ppm) in 67.0% households, formaldehyde (≥0.1ppm) in 35.1% households, carbon monoxide (1-5ppm) in 17.5% households and hydrocarbon (≥600ppm) in 9.3% of the households. In most of the households (92.8%) nitrogen dioxide could not be detected. However, hydrocarbon, formaldehyde and carbon monoxide also could not be detected in 7.2%, 30.9% and 73.2% households respectively. The respiratory problems were found to be more in the households with increase concentration of pollutants in the indoor air. In addition, the average concentration of carbon dioxide, formaldehyde and hydrocarbon are found to be significantly (p<0.05) high with the occurrence of respiratory problems. The common respiratory manifestations suffered by the household members were chronic cough (34.4%), cough and chest pain (33.7%); breathlessness and chest tightness (33.3%); running nose and sneezing (30.6%) and wheeze and asthma (26.4%).
Conclusion: The study revealed that the concentrations of some indoor air pollutants were higher in the studied households of Dhaka city. The members of these households were found to suffer more from respiratory diseases, particularly households having significantly higher concentration of carbon dioxide, formaldehyde and hydrocarbon.
Downloads
Article Details
Copyright (c) 2016 Nahar M, et al.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Slezakova K, Morais S, Pereira MDC (2012) Indoor Air Pollutants: Relevant Aspects and Health Impacts. Environmental Health - Emerging Issues and Practice. ch-6, Jacques Oosthuizen (Ed.), In Tech: 37-40 .
EPA. Why Indoor Air Quality is Important to Schools .
Department of the Environment, Australia. Indoor Air Quality.
Green Facts. Indoor Air Quality. How can scientists determine whether indoor air pollutants pose a health risk?
Green Facts (2008) Indoor Air Quality. Details on Indoor Air Quality.
WHO (2010) Guidelines for indoor air quality: selected pollutants. WHO regional office for Europe, 2010 .
(2000) Common Indoor Air Pollutants: Sources and Health Impacts .
Zuskin E, Schachter EN, Mustajbegovic J, Cvetkovic JP, Doko-Jeliniic J, et.al (2009) Indoor air pollution and effects on human health. Periodicum Biologorum 111: 37-40 .
WHO (2005) Indoor air pollution and health. Fact Sheet No 292 .
WHO (2016) Household air pollution and health. Fact Sheet 292 .
Bruce N, Pandilla RP, Albalak R (2000) Indoor air pollution in developing countries: a major environment and public challenge. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 78: 1078-1092
WHO (2007) Indoor air pollution: national burden of disease estimates. World Health Organization. Geneva, 2007 .
Khandker S, Ahmed R, Mollah AR, Parvez F (2014) Health effect of Biomass Fuel Combustion on Women and Children and Intervention of Improved Cook Stove and Hand Washing Practices: Journal of Allied Health Sciences 1: 13-18.
Khandker S, Ahmad SA, Mollah AR, Parvez F, Khan MH (2015) Comparison of Respiratory problems among Women and Children of Rural Households using Improved Cook Stove and Traditional Cook Stove. Jour Pre Soc Med 34: 8-13.
WHO (2016) Children’s Environmental Health, Air Pollution.
Logue JM, Klepeis NE, Lobscheid AB, Singer BC (2014) Pollutant Exposures from Natural Gas Cooking Burners: A Simulation-Based Assessment for Southern California. Environmental Health Perspectives 122: 43-50 .
EHP (2014) Cooking Up Indoor Air Pollution Emissions from Natural Gas Stoves. Environmental Health Perspectives 122: 27 .
Mullen NA, Li J, Singer BC (2012) Impact of Natural Gas Appliances on Pollutant Levels in California homes. LBNL- 5970e. Berkeley, CA: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: 138 .
Causes and Sources of Indoor Air Pollutants.
Causes of poor indoor air quality.
US-EPA.
IAQ Index (2011) Formaldehyde Fact Sheet .
California EPA (2014) Guidelines and Fact Sheets.
Work Safe BC (2016) OHS Guidelines Part 5 Chemical Agents and Biological Agents .
ICMR (2001) Indoor Air Pollution in India – A Major Environmental and Public Health Concern. ICMR Bulletin 31: 1-9.
Khalequzzaman M, Kamijima M, Sakai K, Chowdhury NA, Hamajima N, et al. (2007) Indoor air pollution and its impact on children under five years old in Bangladesh. Indoor Air 17: 297-304 .
Jarvis D, Chinn S, Sterne J, Luczynska C, Burney P (1998) The association of respiratory symptoms and lung function with the use of gas for cooking. Eur Respr J 11: 651-658 .
Golden R (2011) Identifying an indoor air exposure limit for formaldehyde considering both irritation and cancer hazards. Critical Reviews in Toxicology 41: 672–721 .
National Cancer Institute. Formaldehyde and Cancer Risk .
IARC (2006) Monographs-100F Formaldehyde: 401-436.
CDC-NIOSH (1981) Formaldehyde: Evidence of Carcinogenicity .
ATSDR (2013) Environmental Health and Medicine Education. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs).
Toxipedia (2011) Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons .
Braga RS, Barone PMVB, Galvao DS (2000) Identifying carcinogenic activity of methylated and non-methylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) through electronic and topological indices. Braz J Phys 30: 560-568 .
Dipple A (1985) Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Carcinogenesis.
Brookes P, Duncan M E (1971) Carcinogenic Hydrocarbons and Human Cells in Culture. Nature 231: 40-43 .
Herr HW (2011) Percivall Pott, The Environment and Cancer. BJU International 108: 479-481 .