Revelations to indoor air pollutants and health risk assessment on women: A case study

Abstract

Household air pollution has been identified as a global threat in recent decades. The partial combustion of solid fuel is a leading reason for indoor pollution in middle- and low-income countries and has been estimated to cause around 3.5 million death per year globally. Women become the most vulnerable to these household air pollution due to their exceptional physical possessions and higher exposure duration. The current study aims to identify the possible exposure conditions of indoor air pollution in women. The study starts with a questionnaire survey to assess the health-related issues distinguishing women further leading to the sampling of air pollutants in the kitchen area of different homes (n=10) bifurcated on the basis of the nature of the family. Further, the concentration obtained was utilized for health risk assessment using ICRP and MPPD modelling techniques. The concentration trend observed shows a higher concentration of particulate matter in joint family kitchens. According to MPPD modelling the highest deposition as determined was for PM_2.5 and the fraction distributed was 55.9% in the head region, 6.7% in the tracheobronchial region and 37.2% in the pulmonary region. The lowest deposition was obtained for PM_0.5 with the highest deposition fraction obtained for the pulmonary region (61.1%) followed by the head region(21.45%) and the tracheobronchial region (17.3%). Precisely, the present study gives a clear picture about lung deposition of particulate matter present in an indoor setting specifically in women. Also, it throws light upon different sources and scenarios regarding indoor air pollution prevailing among the population.