[Clinical manifestations related to kitchen biomass smoke in African women]

Fires of wood and charcoal play an essential part in the cooking of food in Africa. These fires emit thick smoke that has definite health consequences.

To determine the clinical manifestations related to kitchen smoke and to identify the type of fire most often incriminated.

It was a transverse study comparing the clinical features in women using three types of fire: wood, charcoal and gas. We questioned 200 women in each group who used one type of fire exclusively for five days a week for at least five years.

Clinical manifestations associated with the smoke were reported in all the women using wood as opposed to 98.5% using charcoal and 45.5% using gas. More than 80% had physical signs. These comprised 89.1% upper respiratory and 77% pulmonary signs. Upper respiratory signs were the most common, mainly sneezing and nasal obstruction. At the pulmonary level, a predominance of signs was found in women using wood fires (47.3%) and charcoal (36.2%), the difference being statistically significant. The signs included chronic cough, chest pain and dyspnoea. Wheezes were found in 15% of the women.

Cooking smoke exposes women to complications which are most frequently associated with the use of wood or charcoal.