WOODSMOKE EXPOSURE AND RISK FOR OBSTRUCTIVE AIRWAYS DISEASE AMONG WOMEN

Objective: To investigate if exposure to firewood smoke and other indo or pollutants is a potential risk factor for obstructive airways disea se (OAD) among women in Bogota in whom cigarette smoking and other kno wn risk factors may not be the most frequent. Design and setting: We c onducted a hospital-based case-control study to identify risk factors for OAD among women in Bogota. An interview was conducted using a modi fied questionnaire recommended by the American Thoracic Society for ep idemiologic studies. Patients: We compared 104 OAD cases with 104 cont rols matched by hospital and frequency matched by age. Analysis: The o dds ratio (OR) was used as the basic statistic to evaluate risk. Multi variate analysis (MA) was conducted by the Mantel-Haenszel procedure a nd by logistic regression. Main results: Univariate analysis showed th at tobacco use (OR=2.22; p<0.01),wood use for cooking (OR=3.43; p<0.00 1), passive smoking (OR=2.05; p=0.01), and gasoline use for cooking (O R=0.52; p=0.02) were associated with OAD. Trends for years of tobacco use and years of wood cooking were present (p<0.05). After MA, variabl es remained significant except gasoline use. Conclusions: This study s howed that among elderly women of low socioeconomic status in Bogota, wood-smoke exposure is associated with the development of OAD and may help explain around 50% of all OAD cases. The role of passive smoking remains to be clarified. This work may set the basis for interventiona l studies in similar settings.