EYE DISCOMFORT, HEADACHE AND BACK PAIN AMONG GUATEMALAN WOMEN TAKING PART IN A RANDOMISED STOVE INTERVENTION TRIAL.

Abstract

ISEE-110 Introduction: Indoor air pollution (IAP) from solid fuel use is estimated to cause 1.6 million premature deaths annually worldwide (WHO). The preliminary results presented here are part of The Guatemala Stove Intervention Study, the first randomised controlled trial ever performed on health effects from solid fuel use. In households with open woodfires, new chimney woodstoves (Planchas) were installed to reduce indoor smoke. In addition to health effects by reducing IAP levels, the Plancha may also have a positive effect by changing working posture to the upright position. Headache, sore eyes and back pain are reported here because they may represent an important burden in daily life in this population. Methods: The study was conducted in a Mayan Indian community in highland Guatemala. As part of the study, questions about headache, back pain and sore eyes were assessed at baseline, 6, 12 and 18 months after the intervention in 203 women, who were mothers of the study children and the main cooks (106 intervention [mean age 26.9 years (SD 7.3)] and 97 controls [mean age 27.9 years (SD 6.8)]). Among other exposure assessments, levels of CO in exhaled breath were measured at each visit. CO in breath is a biomarker of air pollution exposure from biomass combustion. Results: All symptoms reported were common at baseline in this population. All symptoms declined over time in both intervention and control groups, significantly more so in the intervention group for headaches (past month), and sore eyes (last month, every day) and non-significantly for back pain. Mean CO breath among intervention women was significantly lower than controls, but also fell in the control group, particularly between baseline and 6 months. Discussion: Our results indicate that the Plancha resulted in reduced exposure to biomass combustion products, and a reduction in the frequency of sore eyes and headache, and possibly also backache. The reduction over time among controls in both breath CO and symptoms is interesting, and explanations may include behaviour change among control homes due to greater awareness of IAP and health, and (with symptoms) possible fatigue with answering the survey questions.