CGPH FACULTY: Brenda Eskenazi, Kirk R. Smith
DATE OF PUBLICATION: October 2011
REGION: Latin America
REFERENCE: Thompson LM, Bruce N, Eskenazi B, Diaz A, Pope D, Smith KR. Impact of reduced maternal exposures to wood smoke from an introduced chimney stove on newborn birth weight in rural Guatemala. Environ Health Perspect. 2011 Oct;119(10):1489-94. doi: 10.1289/ehp.1002928. Epub 2011 Jun 7.
SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: A growing body of evidence indicates a relationship between household indoor air pollution from cooking fires and adverse neonatal outcomes, such as low birth weight (LBW), in resource-poor countries. RESULTS: Pregnant women using chimney stoves had a 39% reduction in mean exposure to carbon monoxide compared with those using open fires. LBW prevalence was high at 22.4%. On average, infants born to mothers who used a stove weighed 89 g more [95% confidence interval (CI), -27 to 204 g] than infants whose mothers used open fires after adjusting for maternal height, diastolic blood pressure, gravidity, and season of birth. The adjusted OR for LBW was 0.74 (95% CI, 0.33-1.66) among infants of stove users compared with open-fire users. Average birth weight was 296 g higher (95% CI, 109-482 g) in infants born during the cold season (after harvest) than in other infants; this unanticipated finding may reflect the role of maternal nutrition on birth weight in an impoverished region.
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