Indoor air quality assessment and the risk establishment for the health of the people engaged in the process of preparing food

Abstract

Background: The health state assessment of the inhabitants of the Republic of Moldova in relation to the pollution of the indoor air during the process of preparing food. Material and methods: The study was conducted in three areas of the Republic of Moldova (North, Center and South). The research was based on the inhabitants’ inquiry and some measurements of physical parameters (the temperature, the relative humidity of the air) and some chemical compounds from the air (the carbon dioxide and the carbon monoxide) from the air. The measurements were carried out during summertime, with Air Quality Monitor 500 in 4 stages: before cooking meals, one hour after the beginning of cooking, at the end of the cooking and one hour after the end of preparing dishes. During the research a questionnaire has been completed, which included a number of questions referring the conditions present in the process of cooking meals, the time needed for cooking, the illnesses supported, the type of the cooking appliances, the type of the fuel used. Results: The analysis of the questionnaires emphasized that half of the respondents have suffered frequently from bronchitis, 28% have been sick with pneumonia, 12% of the people suffered from obstructive bronchitis, 7% – from bronchial asthma and one person – from lung cancer. From the number of the respondents inquired 20% presented a diagnosis of ischemic heart disease and 7% – a stroke. The type of the room in which the people surveyed cooked the meals represents a certain risk in the development of the diseases. There is a huge risk to prepare the dishes in the living room (2.6≤RR≤2.9) for different nosologic forms (p<0.01). The relative risk of the appearance of the diseases rose depending of the fuel used: biomass (3.3≤RR≤4.5, p<0.05), agricultural waste (3.5≤RR≤3.6, p<0.01), hard coal (3.4≤RR≤3.5, p<0.01), in comparison to other types of fuel. In cases when the interviewees smoke in the house, the risk is very high (3.4≤RR≤5.2, p<0.001). Conclusions: It is necessary to focus our efforts on the communication strategies in order to motivate the awareness of the need of educational programs intended to inform people about the sources of pollution of the rooms and the health risks.