Inhaling smoke from wood contributes to the increase in high blood pressure, some – Research

A new study by the Kintampo Health Research Center (KHRC) in the Bono East region, has revealed that inhaling wood smoke causes high blood pressure, pneumonia, and impaired lung function.
The study, entitled: “Ghana Randomized Air Pollution Health Study (GRAPHS)”, was launched by the institute in 2013, to assess the impact of home air pollution on human health.

Speaking to the African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN) health journalists’ team during a visit to the KHRC on Thursday, April 22, 2022, the lead researcher in the study, the Head of Environmental Health of the KHRC, Dr Sulemana. Abubakari, said the study sought to measure the effects of home pollution (HAP) on pregnancy and child development.
He added that the study also sought to evaluate the effects of clean stoves and fuel burns on birth weight and pneumonia in the first year of life, noting that “Contaminants for cooking accumulate cigarette smoke and the surrounding air pollution; both are related to negative effects on pregnancy. ”

The study found that “Exposure to prenatal air pollution increases the risk of pneumonia and severe pneumonia in the first year of life.”

Dr. Abubakari explained that the findings of the study showed that exposure to HAP may impair lung growth, increasing future risks of respiratory infections.

“Our data suggest that uterine-HAP exposure is associated with reduced lung size and flow-limiting flow limits,” he said, adding that “these changes may prioritize lung disease later in life.”

He therefore called on the government to urgently find other ways to generate clean fuel such as the use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in rural areas.
Dr Abubakari said the use of biomass energy (wood) was higher in rural communities compared to urban areas, noting that as more rural people do not have an LPG, they prefer wood over other areas.

He said although the use of firewood had dropped from about 80 to 70 percent in rural areas in the country over the years, its use was still high in rural communities. For him, the reason why many rural people prefer wood firewood over LPG was because of the cost and distance they had to travel to fill the cylinders.

He mentioned that the government could come and support the use of LPG in rural communities as well as create LPG depots in rural areas so that people could access it.
Findings

Dr Abubakari said the findings of the GRAPHS study show that when women use wood for cooking and inhaling smoke, it contributes to systolic and diastolic pressure.

Blood pressure is measured using two numbers: The first number, called systolic blood pressure, measures the pressure in your arteries when your heart is beating. The second number, called diastolic blood pressure, measures the pressure in your arteries as your heart relaxes during the beating.

Commenting on the study, Dr Abubakari explained that the study used a total of 1,415 pregnant women and their infants in a study area in the Kintampo region in the North and South in the Bono East region.

“As they cook and inhale the smoke, it affects them,” he said, pointing out that children, especially children under the age of five who stand with their mothers while they cook, are the most affected.

He said the study had been following participants since 2013 and would continue to monitor their health status regarding air pollution at home.

Dr Abubakari further pointed out that the weight of babies born to pregnant women who inhaled wood smoke was affected.

Commenting on the content of the study, the Head of Environmental Health at KHRC said, “the findings and insights gained from this study are expected to contribute to public health development and to inform government of Ghana’s energy policy efforts, which are currently focused on. in developing a global LPG distribution system using the Cylinder Recirculation Model. ”
In the background

Founded in 1994, the KHRC is one of the three Research and Development Division (RDD) health centers of the Ghana Health Service.

It provides a unique platform for public health ethics and biomedical research that influences policy direction and implementation of programs to improve well-being and reduce illness in the country and beyond.

Ghanaian singer Okyeame Kwame, better known as “the rap dacta”, has offered some advice to young men looking for women with certain traits.
Most men are looking for women who have met the “wife material” criteria. In other words, men are looking for beautiful, humble, good cooks, prayerful, and naughty.

But in response, Okyeame Kwame says men who want such qualities should, for the first time, have those qualities.

In his words; “Men who want humble women must learn to be humble. You can’t look for the right man if you are not the right man. Relationships will not work “.

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