Prevalence of COPD among women and relation with cooking fuel choice in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

BACKGROUND: According to the WHO, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) will become the third leading cause of death by 2030. In sub-Saharan Africa, the burden of the disease is unknown. We assessed the prevalence and the factors associated with COPD and chronic bronchitis among women in charge of household cooking. METHODS: A cross-sectional population survey was conducted. We randomly selected women aged >18 years in charge of cooking in their household. COPD was defined as post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC (forced expiratory volume in 1 sec/forced vital capacity) ratio of ,0.70; chronic bronchitis was defined as cough with sputum of at least 3 months in the year for at least 2 consecutive years. RESULTS: Of the 1705 women interviewed, 835 were selected to perform spirometry and 564 provided an acceptable test result. The prevalence of COPD was 1.1% and that of chronic bronchitis was 1.2%. COPD prevalence was higher among women using biomass, women aged >40 years, those had been cooking or had been exposed to toxic gases for more than 30 years. After adjustment, only biomass fuel use and exposure to toxic products were found to be associated with COPD. CONCLUSION: Urgent action is need to accelerate the transition to the other sources of energy.