Journal of Environmental Biology

Menstrual impairment among adolescents exposed to

biomass fuel smoke

Vipin Bihari^1*, SM Iqbal², LP Srivastava³ and C Kesavachandran¹

¹Epidemiology Division, CSIR- Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow-226 001, India

²Integral University, Lucknow-226 026, India

³Pesticide Toxicology Division, CSIR- Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow-226 001, India

*Corresponding Author E-mail: vipinbihari31@rediffmail.com

Publication Data

Paper received:

25 May 2012

Revised received:

08 November 2012

Accepted:

24 December 2012

Abstract

Menstrual impairment is a common gynecological problem among adolescents world over. Regular and long time exposure to biomass (dung cake, crop residue and wood) fuels smoke is a significant reproductive health problem among poor rural females in developing countries. Adolescent girls normally engaged in learning cooking are also at risk. Apart from respiratory health problems, the non respiratory health problems e.g. menstrual problems are also common among the adolescent exposed to biomass fuel smoke. The subjects were selected from different areas of Lucknow district, Uttar Pradesh, India of nearly same socio-economic status. The study involved 71 randomly selected adolescent (48 exposed to biomass fuel smoke and 23 unexposed to biomass fuel smoke). All subjects were interviewed and clinically examined. This study showed that biomass fuel use is an important factor for deterioration of menstrual health among adolescent (p<0.05), than clean fuel users. Comparing the use of biomass fuel with Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) / electric showed that LPG/ electric were safer fuel as far as menstrual impairment of adolescent was concerned. Innovative multi sectorial approaches targeted at individuals could reduce the exposure and adverse health impacts of exposure to biomass fuel smoke. The study concludes that traditional biomass fuels adversely affects menstrual cycle among exposed females.

 Key words

Adolescent girls, Biomass fuel smoke, Domestic cooking, Liquefied petroleum gas, Menstrual impairment

Copyright ? 2014 Triveni Enterprises. All rights reserved. No part of the Journal can be reproduced in any form without prior permission. Responsibility regarding the authenticity of the data, and the acceptability of the conclusions enforced or derived, rest completely with the author(s).