Indoor solid wood fires ‘dangerous’ for pregnant women: Study

Pregnant women may experience life-threatening repercussions from the air pollution caused by indoor cooking over a wood or charcoal fire, a new study suggests.

"Asignificantly positive correlation" between the number of eclampsia cases, a rare pregnancy illness where high blood pressure causes potentially fatal seizures, and the number of deaths attributed to toxic smoke from cooking and heating has been discovered by researchers at King's College London. Pregnant women who are cooking over an open fire have a much higher chance of having pre-eclampsia, which is marked by elevated blood pressure or hypertension.

Prof Andrew Shennan, a lead author of the study, told The Guardian that the research “could help explain observed inequalities in maternal healthcare in low and middle-income countries”.

“In-house cooking and household pollution may increase the risk of seizures. We believe that less oxygen will get to the mother’s brain, and this may trigger a fit in women who already have pre-eclampsia,” said Shennan.

The study published in the International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics found that solid-fuel fires inside homes, which are frequent in low- and middle-income countries, increasethe risk of placental hypoxia.

“We are lucky to have such a large dataset of women with eclampsia, as it only occurs in 1% of women with pre-eclampsia. This has allowed us to uncover this new finding. This could help explain observed inequalities in maternal healthcare in low and middle-income countries,” Shennan added.

(with inputs from agencies)