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Exposure to particulate matter (PM(2.5)) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and self-reported health symptoms among fish smokers: A case study in the Western Region of Ghana
The study aimed to assess the concentrations of particulate matter (PM(2.5)) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced from the burning of biomass fuel from the smoking of fish. It also sought to determine the proportion of fish smokers reporting health symptoms associated with exposure to thes...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2023
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10038312/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36961812 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283438 |
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author | Obeng, Gifty Mensah Aram, Simon Appah Agyei, Daniel Saalidong, Benjamin M. |
author_facet | Obeng, Gifty Mensah Aram, Simon Appah Agyei, Daniel Saalidong, Benjamin M. |
author_sort | Obeng, Gifty Mensah |
collection | PubMed |
description | The study aimed to assess the concentrations of particulate matter (PM(2.5)) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced from the burning of biomass fuel from the smoking of fish. It also sought to determine the proportion of fish smokers reporting health symptoms associated with exposure to these pollutants. A cross-sectional study was conducted among fish smokers at Abuesi in the Western Region of Ghana. Systematic sampling was employed to choose 60 smokehouses for PM(2.5) and VOC monitoring. A total of 434 fish smokers were also randomly sampled for the study. Measurements were taken at indoor, outdoor and control locations. The highest concentration of PM(2.5) was recorded in the indoor environment. The mean concentration of PM(2.5) between the indoor and control environment was significantly different unlike between the outdoor and control environments. The concentration of VOCs systematically varied across indoor, outdoor and control locations. The most reported disease symptoms were eye infection, cough, and headaches. There was a strong positive association between the number of years spent smoking fish and the frequency of eye problems reported by fish smokers. The study demonstrated that fish smokers inside the smokehouse or smoking rooms are exposed to higher PM(2.5) and VOC levels which are detrimental to their health. There is therefore the need for further studies to explore other energy sources which may have a lesser negative effect on human health. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10038312 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-100383122023-03-25 Exposure to particulate matter (PM(2.5)) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and self-reported health symptoms among fish smokers: A case study in the Western Region of Ghana Obeng, Gifty Mensah Aram, Simon Appah Agyei, Daniel Saalidong, Benjamin M. PLoS One Research Article The study aimed to assess the concentrations of particulate matter (PM(2.5)) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced from the burning of biomass fuel from the smoking of fish. It also sought to determine the proportion of fish smokers reporting health symptoms associated with exposure to these pollutants. A cross-sectional study was conducted among fish smokers at Abuesi in the Western Region of Ghana. Systematic sampling was employed to choose 60 smokehouses for PM(2.5) and VOC monitoring. A total of 434 fish smokers were also randomly sampled for the study. Measurements were taken at indoor, outdoor and control locations. The highest concentration of PM(2.5) was recorded in the indoor environment. The mean concentration of PM(2.5) between the indoor and control environment was significantly different unlike between the outdoor and control environments. The concentration of VOCs systematically varied across indoor, outdoor and control locations. The most reported disease symptoms were eye infection, cough, and headaches. There was a strong positive association between the number of years spent smoking fish and the frequency of eye problems reported by fish smokers. The study demonstrated that fish smokers inside the smokehouse or smoking rooms are exposed to higher PM(2.5) and VOC levels which are detrimental to their health. There is therefore the need for further studies to explore other energy sources which may have a lesser negative effect on human health. Public Library of Science 2023-03-24 /pmc/articles/PMC10038312/ /pubmed/36961812 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283438 Text en © 2023 Obeng et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Obeng, Gifty Mensah Aram, Simon Appah Agyei, Daniel Saalidong, Benjamin M. Exposure to particulate matter (PM(2.5)) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and self-reported health symptoms among fish smokers: A case study in the Western Region of Ghana |
title | Exposure to particulate matter (PM(2.5)) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and self-reported health symptoms among fish smokers: A case study in the Western Region of Ghana |
title_full | Exposure to particulate matter (PM(2.5)) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and self-reported health symptoms among fish smokers: A case study in the Western Region of Ghana |
title_fullStr | Exposure to particulate matter (PM(2.5)) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and self-reported health symptoms among fish smokers: A case study in the Western Region of Ghana |
title_full_unstemmed | Exposure to particulate matter (PM(2.5)) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and self-reported health symptoms among fish smokers: A case study in the Western Region of Ghana |
title_short | Exposure to particulate matter (PM(2.5)) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and self-reported health symptoms among fish smokers: A case study in the Western Region of Ghana |
title_sort | exposure to particulate matter (pm(2.5)) and volatile organic compounds (vocs), and self-reported health symptoms among fish smokers: a case study in the western region of ghana |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10038312/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36961812 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283438 |
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