Air pollution and environmental risk factors for altered lung function among adult women of an urban slum area of Delhi: A prevalence study

BACKGROUND: Household and ambient air pollution are jointly responsible for about 7 million premature deaths annually. Women living in slums, with unhealthy environment, both indoors and outdoors, particularly those living close to industrial and/or vehicular pollution zones due to multiple sources of air pollution, are at the higher risk of having impaired lung function tests. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of abnormal lung functions and to identify the environmental risk factors associated with them among adult women of 18–59 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 550 women aged 18–59 years were approached in a representative urban slum. Five hundred consented to participate and 299 had prebronchodilator spirometry satisfying ATS standards. House visits to assess environmental conditions were conducted to determine their association with forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC). Chi-square test was used to test the association of risk factors with lung functions. ANOVA was used to test the association of mean values of FEV1 and FVC with age. RESULTS: Out of 299 participants with acceptable spirometric curves, 5% had reduced FEV1/FVC ratio than the normal and 26.8% and 17.4% had lower values than predicted for FVC and FEV1, respectively. Altered lung function was related to age, tobacco smoking, and history of respiratory disease. CONCLUSIONS: Both ambient and household air pollution have a deleterious pulmonary effect on long-term women residents of a representative urban slum in Delhi.