Table 4.
Overall pooled odds-ratios for associations between respiratory outcomes and biomass fuel exposure, compared with other fuel type exposures among children and women. Data obtained from meta-analysis of 25 studies by Po et al. published in 2011 55.
| Respiratory Outcome | Number of studies included in meta- analysis |
Strength of association |
|---|---|---|
| Acute respiratory tract infection in children** | 8 * | 3.53 (1.93, 6.43) |
| Asthma in children | 4 | 0.50 (0.12, 1.98) |
| Asthma in women | 5 | 1.34 (0.93, 1.93) |
| Chronic bronchitis in women | 6 | 2.52 (1.88, 3.38) |
| COPD in women | 6 | 2.40 (1.47, 3.93) |
*
All studies included in the meta-analysis are from developing countries except one from the United States that examined acute respiratory infections in American Indian children 73.
**
Acute respiratory tract infection in this meta-analysis included both upper and lower respiratory tract infections.