Indoor Air, Health impact assessment, Biomass combustion, Environmental tobacco
smoke
On average people spend about 90% of their day
indoors, the majority of which is at home
(Schweizer et al. 2007). Although so much time
is spent indoors, there is currently no indoor air
quality legislation for particulate matter (PM). A
WHO steering group recently concluded that
there is no evidence of differences in the hazards
between PM from indoor sources, e.g. biomass
combustion, and from outdoor sources; and
recommended that guidelines for outdoor PM
should be used for indoor PM (WHO, 2010).
The health burden due to indoor air pollution
(IAP) from the combustion of biomass fuels has
been well documented in developing countries
(WHO, 2007); however minimal work has been
done to quantify the health burden in developed
countries. Additionally, much attention has been
paid to the health effects of exposure to
environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Many
countries have enacted bans on smoking in
enclosed public places; however, exposure at
home may still be significant. Thus, there
remains a need to quantify the health burden that
arises from IAP within domestic environments
in developed countries.
The results presented here are from the second
part of the Indoor Air Pollution and Health
(IAPAH) study. IAPAH represents a first
attempt to quantify the current burden of disease
due to IAP from indoor sources: namely,
combustion of biomass fuels (wood, peat, coal
and gas) and ETS, within homes in Ireland and
Scotland. Indoor air measurement data collected
in part 1 (Semple et al. 2011) of the IAPAH
study were used to estimate the burden of
disease due to combustion derived
IAP.