Prevalence and determinants of airflow limitation in urban and rural children exposed to cooking fuels in South-East Nigeria

AbstractBackgroundBiofuels and other cooking fuels are used in households in low- and middle-income countries.AimTo investigate the impact of cooking fuels on lung function in children in urban and rural households in South-East Nigeria.MethodsThe multi-stage sampling method was used to enroll children exposed to cooking fuel in the communities. Lung function values FEV1, FVC and the FEV1/FVC ratio, were measured with ndd EasyOneR spirometer. Airflow limitation was determined with FEV1/FVC Z-score values at −1.64 as the lower limit of normal (LLN5). The Global Lung Function Initiative 2012 software was used to calculate the lung function indices.ResultsThe median age (range) of the 912 children enrolled was 10.6 years (6–18). Altogether, 468 (51.6%) children lived in rural areas. Seven hundred and thirty-seven (80.7%) were directly exposed to cooking fuels (418/737, 56.5% in rural areas). Wood and kerosene were the dominant fuels in rural and urban households. The respective mean Z-scores of the exposed c...