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Background Household air pollution (HAP) from indoor biomass stoves contains harmful pollutants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and is a leading risk factor for global disease burden. We used biomonitoring to assess HAP exposure and association with self-reported symptoms in 334 non-smoking Peruvian women to evaluate the efficacy of a stove intervention program. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study within the framework of a community randomized control trial. Using urinary PAH metabolites (OH-PAHs) as the exposure biomarkers, we investigated whether the intervention group ( n = 155, with new chimney-equipped stoves) were less exposed to HAP compared to the control group ( n = 179, with mostly open-fire stoves). We also estimated associations between the exposure biomarkers, risk factors, and self-reported health symptoms, such as recent eye conditions, respiratory conditions, and headache. Results We observed reduced headache and ocular symptoms in the intervention group than the control group. Urinary 2-naphthol, a suggested biomarker for inhalation PAH exposure, was significantly lower in the intervention group (GM with 95% CI: 13.4 [12.3, 14.6] μg/g creatinine) compared to control group (16.5 [15.0, 18.0] μg/g creatinine). Stove type and/or 2-naphthol was associated with a number of self-reported symptoms, such as red eye (adjusted OR with 95% CI: 3.80 [1.32, 10.9]) in the past 48 h. Conclusions Even with the improved stoves, the biomarker concentrations in this study far exceeded those of the general populations and were higher than a no-observed-genotoxic-effect-level, indicating high exposure and a potential for increased cancer risk in the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Nearly half of the world's population is exposed to household air pollution (HAP) due to long hours spent in close proximity to unvented cooking fires. The effect of woodsmoke exposure on oxidative stress was examined by investigating the association between woodsmoke exposure and biomarkers of DNA oxidation (8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine [8-OHdG]) and lipid peroxidation (8-isoprostane) among control and intervention stove users. HAP exposure assessment was conducted within the framework of a community-randomized controlled trial of 51 communities in San Marcos Province, Cajamarca Region, Peru. The first morning urine voids after 48h HAP exposure assessment from a subset of 45 control and 39 intervention stove users were analyzed for 8-OHdG and 8-isoprostane. General linear models and correlation analyses were performed. Urinary oxidative stress biomarkers ranged from 11.2 to 2270.0μg/g creatinine (median: 132.6μg/g creatinine) for 8-OHdG and from 0.1 to 4.5μg/g creatinine (median: 0.8μg/g creatinine) for 8-isoprostane among all study subjects (n=84). After controlling for the effects of traffic in the community and eating food exposed to fire among all subjects, cooking time was weakly, but positively associated with urinary 8-OHdG (r=0.29, p=0.01, n=80). Subjects' real-time personal CO exposures were negatively associated with 8-OHdG, particularly the maximum 30-second CO exposure during the sampling period (r=−0.32, p=0.001, n=73). 48h time integrated personal PM2.5 was negatively, but marginally associated with urinary 8-isoprostane (r=−0.21, p=0.09, n=69) after controlling for the effect of distance of homes to the road. Urinary 8-isoprostane levels reported in the available literature are comparable to results found in the current study. However there were relatively high levels of urinary 8-OHdG compared to data in the available literature for 8-OHdG excretion. Results suggest a sustained systemic oxidative stress among these Peruvian women chronically exposed to wood smoke. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]