Systematic review of published literatures related to respiratory diseases particularly lung cancer risk associated with exposure to household air pollution due to indoor coal fuel use in Asia
Student name: Mr Qamaruddin Sidiqy
Guide: Dr Papiya Guha Mazumdar
Year of completion: 2014
Host Organisation: The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI), New Delhi
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Ms Meena Seghal
Abstract: Coal as a combustible rock is widely used as indoor energy source for cooking and heating in
some developing countries. This energy source has some health risks associated with when
individuals are exposed to the particulate matters generated from its combustion. In this
research, systematic review of published literatures including reports and articles particularly
case-control studies of lung cancer risk from indoor air pollution due to household coal
burning from Asia have been conducted. After filtration of the case-control studies for
developing Meta-Analysis and odds ratio forest plot, total of 11 case-controls studies have
been selected for the analysis. The result show that since all coals are not the same in their
composition, so their adverse health effect level varies from region to region, and effect level
is also dependent to the usage pattern. Pooled odds ratio from the studies have been
calculated which shows 3.36 fold (95% CI: 2.15-5.37) increased risk of lung cancer
associated with indoor air pollution due to household coal burning. Random effect model has
been used for statistical analysis and existence of 70.7% heterogeneity among the studies
supported the fact that coal effect estimate varies from regions to regions which is mainly due
to difference in their compositions beside variation in usage pattern. No publication bias has
been found in the analysis (Begg-Mazumdar: Kendall’s tau=0.90909, P=0.7612)
Keywords: Indoor air pollution, Respiratory diseases, Lung Cancer, indoor coal combustion,
exposure, Asia, Meta-Analysis, Odds Ratio Forest Plot.
