London: Long-term use of coal, wood, or charcoal for cooking may increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, according to a study.
"Our study suggests that people who use solid fuels for cooking should switch to electricity or gas as soon as possible," said Derrick Bennett from the University of Oxford in the UK.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels and is the leading cause of death globally. It has been suggested that air pollution from cooking with solid fuels, such as coal, wood, or charcoal, may lead to premature death from cardiovascular disease, but there is limited evidence.
The latest study assessed the association between solid fuel use for cooking and cardiovascular death, as well as the potential impact of switching from solid to clean fuel (electricity or gas). It included 341,730 adults aged 30-79 years recruited from ten areas of China from 2004 to 2008.
Participants were interviewed about how often they cooked and the main fuel used at their three most recent homes. The researchers then estimated the duration of exposure to solid fuels.
"We found that long-term use of solid fuels for cooking was associated with an excess risk of cardiovascular death, after accounting for established risk factors," said Zhengming Chen, a professor at the University of Oxford.
"Switching to electricity or gas weakened the impact of previous solid fuel use, suggesting that the negative association may be reversible," Chen said.
The analysis was restricted to those who cooked at least weekly at their three most recent residences and did not have cardiovascular disease. Information on mortality up to January 1, 2017, was collected from death registries and hospital records.
During 3.4 million person-years of follow-up, 8,304 participants died from cardiovascular disease. After adjusting for education, smoking and other cardiovascular risk factors, each decade of exposure to solid fuel were associated with a three percent higher risk of cardiovascular death.
Participants who had used solid fuels for 30 years or longer had a 12 percent greater risk of cardiovascular death than those who had used them for less than ten years. Compared to the persistent long-term use of solid fuels, adopting clean fuels was associated with a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
