Author(s)

G. K. Agarwal, U. Jha & R. K. Jha

Abstract

Recent interest to study the relationship between Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) exposure and respiratory health in adults has been extended to the Ranchi district in the Jharkhand state of India. The present study is a fair attempt to access the effects of ETS exposure on respiratory symptoms in two types of study populations, i.e., urban and rural, on the basis of a standardized questionnaire. This results in studying subjects with variable exposure to passive smoking. There were some 80% subjects from the urban population and 20% from the rural one. The two study populations were further classified into two age grades, i.e., grade (1) and grade (2). Age grade (1) with the age range between 13 – 30 years formed the major group of subjects at 72%. Cigarette smoke including chewing products were found to be the culprit behind ETS exposure while another class of sources (chulla smoke including wood, coal, dung etc.) was found responsible for the Respirable Suspended Particulate matter (RSP). 51.3% and 10.5% subjects were passively exposed to ETS and RSP respectively. Among the common respiratory symptoms observed were coughing, wheezing, shortness of breadth and tightness of chest. The unavailability of any data for the above region makes this study very promising. Keywords: environmental tobacco smoke, respirable suspended particulates, passive smoking, adult, respiratory health, asthma, ETS exposure.

Keywords

environmental tobacco smoke, respirable suspended particulates, passive smoking, adult, respiratory health, asthma, ETS exposure.