Biomass smoke exposure and somatic growth among children: The RESPIRE and CRECER prospective cohort studies in rural Guatemala.

Background: Cooking-related biomass smoke is a major source of household air pollution (HAP) and an important health hazard. Prior studies identified associations between HAP exposure and childhood stunting; less is known for underweight and wasting. Few studies had personal HAP measurements.

Biomass Smoke Exposure and Atopy among Young Children in the Western Highlands of Guatemala: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Women and children in rural regions of low-income countries are exposed to high levels of household air pollution (HAP) as they traditionally tend to household chores such as cooking with biomass fuels. Early life exposure to air pollution is associated with aeroallergen sensitization and developing allergic diseases at older ages. This prospective cohort study assigned HAP-reducing chimney stoves to 557 households in rural Guatemala at different ages of the study children.

Effectiveness of Gas and Chimney Biomass Stoves for Reducing Household Air Pollution Pregnancy Exposure in Guatemala: Sociodemographic Effect Modifiers.

Household air pollution (HAP) due to solid fuel use during pregnancy is associated with adverse birth outcomes. The real-life effectiveness of clean cooking interventions has been disappointing overall yet variable, but the sociodemographic determinants are not well described. We measured personal 24-h PM (particulate matter <2.

Correction: The use of bluetooth low energy Beacon systems to estimate indirect personal exposure to household air pollution.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

The use of bluetooth low energy Beacon systems to estimate indirect personal exposure to household air pollution.

Household air pollution (HAP) generated from solid fuel combustion is a major health risk. Direct measurement of exposure to HAP is burdensome and challenging, particularly for children. In a pilot study of the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial in rural Guatemala, we evaluated an indirect exposure assessment method that employs fixed continuous PM monitors, Bluetooth signal receivers in multiple microenvironments (kitchen, sleeping area and outdoor patio), and a wearable signal emitter to track an individual's time within those microenvironments.

Quantitative metrics of stove adoption using Stove Use Monitors (SUMs).

The sustained use of cookstoves that are introduced to reduce fuel use or air pollution needs to be objectively monitored to verify the sustainability of these benefits. Quantifying stove adoption requires affordable tools, scalable methods and validated metrics of usage. We quantified the longitudinal patterns of chimney-stove use of 80 households in rural Guatemala, monitored with Stove Use Monitors (SUMs) during 32 months.

Temperature dataloggers as stove use monitors (SUMs): Field methods and signal analysis.

We report the field methodology of a 32-month monitoring study with temperature dataloggers as Stove Use Monitors (SUMs) to quantify usage of biomass cookstoves in 80 households of rural Guatemala. The SUMs were deployed in two stoves types: a well-operating chimney cookstove and the traditional open-cookfire. We recorded a total of 31,112 days from all chimney cookstoves, with a 10% data loss rate.

Exposures to high levels of carbon monoxide from wood-fired temazcal (steam bath) use in highland Guatemala.

The temazcal is a wood-fired steam bath used in the rural highlands of Guatemala for bathing and healing. We measured carbon monoxide (CO) among 288 participants in 72 temazcales. Participants were drawn from communities who participated in the RESPIRE (Randomized Exposure Study of Pollution Indoors and Respiratory Effects) chimney stove intervention trial.

Estimating personal PM2.5 exposures using CO measurements in Guatemalan households cooking with wood fuel.

As a part of a longitudinal study in the highlands of Guatemala to elicit the chronic health effects of wood smoke from cooking, mean area and personal 48 h concentrations of 2.5 microm particulate matter (PM2.5) and carbon monoxide (CO) were measured every 3 months over 19 months.

Personal child and mother carbon monoxide exposures and kitchen levels: methods and results from a randomized trial of woodfired chimney cookstoves in Guatemala (RESPIRE).

During the first randomized intervention trial (RESPIRE: Randomized Exposure Study of Pollution Indoors and Respiratory Effects) in air pollution epidemiology, we pioneered application of passive carbon monoxide (CO) diffusion tubes to measure long-term personal exposures to woodsmoke. Here we report on the protocols and validations of the method, trends in personal exposure for mothers and their young children, and the efficacy of the introduced improved chimney stove in reducing personal exposures and kitchen concentrations. Passive diffusion tubes originally developed for industrial hygiene applications were deployed on a quarterly basis to measure 48-hour integrated personal carbon monoxide exposures among 515 children 0-18 months of age and 532 mothers aged 15-55 years and area samples in a subsample of 77 kitchens, in households randomized into control and intervention groups.

An ultrasound personal locator for time-activity assessment.

The UC Berkeley Time-Activity Monitoring System (UCB-TAMS) was developed to measure time-activity in exposure studies. The system consists of small, light, inexpensive battery-operated 40-kHz ultrasound transmitters (tags) worn by participants and an ultrasound receiver (locator) attached to a datalogger fixed in an indoor location. Presence or absence of participants is monitored by distinguishing the unique ultrasound ID of each tag.

An inexpensive light-scattering particle monitor: field validation.

We have developed a small, light, passive, inexpensive, datalogging particle monitor called the "UCB" (University of California Berkeley particle monitor). Following previously published laboratory assessments, we present here results of tests of its performance in field settings at high particle concentrations. We demonstrate the mass sensitivity of the UCB in relation to gravimetric filter-based PM(2.

Urinary methoxyphenol biomarkers and woodsmoke exposure: comparisons in rural Guatemala with personal CO and kitchen CO, levoglucosan, and PM2.5.

Urinary methoxyphenols have been proposed as biomarkers for woodsmoke exposure, but few field studies have been undertaken. We evaluated these biomarkers for assessing the exposure to woodsmoke of householders in rural Guatemala. The study population was a subset (10 female cooks, 2 female non-cooks, and 8 male non-cooks ranging in age from 7 to 60) drawn from those participating in a longterm randomized intervention trial (RESPIRE) in the highlands.