[Clinical manifestations related to kitchen biomass smoke in African women].

Context: Fires of wood and charcoal play an essential part in the cooking of food in Africa. These fires emit thick smoke that has definite health consequences.

Objectives: To determine the clinical manifestations related to kitchen smoke and to identify the type of fire most often incriminated.

Methods: It was a transverse study comparing the clinical features in women using three types of fire: wood, charcoal and gas. We questioned 200 women in each group who used one type of fire exclusively for five days a week for at least five years.

Results: Clinical manifestations associated with the smoke were reported in all the women using wood as opposed to 98.5% using charcoal and 45.5% using gas. More than 80% had physical signs. These comprised 89.1% upper respiratory and 77% pulmonary signs. Upper respiratory signs were the most common, mainly sneezing and nasal obstruction. At the pulmonary level, a predominance of signs was found in women using wood fires (47.3%) and charcoal (36.2%), the difference being statistically significant. The signs included chronic cough, chest pain and dyspnoea. Wheezes were found in 15% of the women.

Conclusion: Cooking smoke exposes women to complications which are most frequently associated with the use of wood or charcoal.