Is Chinese Incense Smoke Hazardous to Respiratory Health?

Abstract

Incense is a common source of indoor air pollution, especially in Asian homes where it is burned for religious reasons. In previous studies in Hong Kong, it was found to be the major source of airborne carcinogens in the home, and a significant contributor to personal exposures to nitrogen dioxide among wom en. To evaluate its effects on respiratory health, data from an air pollution cross-sectional study of 346 primary school children and their 293 non-smok ing mothers, and a lung cancer case-control study of 189 female patients and 197 district matched controls who had ever been married were analysed. No association was found between exposure to incense burning and respiratory symptoms like chronic cough, chronic sputum, chronic bronchitis, runny nose, wheezing, asthma, allergic rhinitis, or pneumonia among the three popu lations studied: i.e. primary school children, their non-smoking mothers, or a group of older non-smoking female controls. Incense burning did not affect lung cancer risk among non-smo...