Effect of Prenatal Exposure to Kitchen Fuel on Birth Weight

BACKGROUND Maternal exposure to kitchen fuel smoke may lead to impaired fetal growth. OBJECTIVE To study the effect of exposure to various kitchen fuels on birth weight. METHODOLOGY STUDY TYPE Retrospective analytical. STUDY SETTING Hospital based. STUDY SUBJECTS Mothers and their newborns. INCLUSION CRITERIA Mothers registered in first trimester with minimum 3 visits, non-anemic, full-term, and singleton delivery. EXCLUSION CRITERIA History of Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH), Diabetes Mellitus (DM), tobacco chewers or mishri users. SAMPLE SIZE 328 mothers and their new-borne. STUDY PERIOD Six months. Study tools: Chi-square, Z-test, ANOVA, and binary logistic regression. RESULTS Effect of confounders on birth weight was tested and found to be non-significant. Mean ± SD of birth weight was 2.669 ± 0.442 in Liquid Petroleium Gas (LPG) users (n = 178), 2.465 ± 0.465 in wood users (n = 94), 2.557 ± 0.603 in LPG + wood users (n = 27) and 2.617 ± 0.470 in kerosene users (n = 29). Infants born to wood users had lowest birth weight and averagely 204 g lighter than LPG users (F = 4.056, P < 0.01). Percentage of newborns with low birth weight (LBW) in wood users was 44.68% which was significantly higher than in LPG users (24.16%), LPG + wood users (40.74%) and in kerosene users (34.48%) (Chi-square = 12.926, P < 0.01). As duration of exposure to wood fuel increases there is significant decline in birth weight (F = 3.825, P < 0.05). By using logistic regression type of fuel is only best predictor. CONCLUSION Cooking with wood fuel is a significant risk-factor for LBW, which is modifiable.