Liquefied Petroleum Gas or Biomass for Cooking and Effects on Blood Pressure: Results from the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) Trial.

Background: Exposure to household air pollution from burning coal and biomass for cooking is associated with higher blood pressure and other adverse indicators of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death worldwide. Evidence demonstrating that switching from biomass to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) will reduce blood pressure is limited.

Methods: As part of a larger trial of 3200 households, we conducted a randomized trial of 342 women aged 40 to 79 years who lived in households using biomass for cooking in rural areas of Guatemala, India, Peru, and Rwanda to assess the effects of a free LPG stove and fuel intervention.

Household air pollution and blood pressure among adult women participants of the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network Trial: An exposure-response analysis.

Background: Exposure to air pollutants, like fine particulate matter (PM), has been linked to higher blood pressure (BP). Few studies have examined this association in biomass-dependent settings. We seek to determine whether high exposure during a 16 month period was associated with an increase in BP among older adult women over the study period and to determine whether short-term increases in exposure were associated with higher coincident blood pressure.

Gestational and postnatal exposures to fine particulate matter (PM) and their association with acute ear infections, diarrhea, respiratory symptoms, and mortality: A longitudinal study of infants in the multicountry Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial.

Exposure to household air pollution from cooking with biomass is a risk factor for infant morbidity and mortality. The Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) evaluated the effects of a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stove and fuel intervention on air pollutant exposure and health outcomes among 3195 pregnant women (nine to 19 weeks' gestation) and their infants in Guatemala, India, Peru, and Rwanda. We measured PM exposure among women before childbirth and infants in the postnatal period.

Provision of a liquefied petroleum gas cookstove and fuel during pregnancy and infancy and linear growth trajectories between birth and 12 months: evidence from the multi-center Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial.

Objective: Exposure to particulate pollution from cooking with solid biomass fuels is associated with impaired child linear growth. We examined the effect of a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cookstove randomized control trial during pregnancy and infancy on linear growth trajectories among infants born to women enrolled during pregnancy.

Methods: The Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) randomized control trial enrolled 3195 pregnant women (9 to <20 weeks gestation) from rural areas in Guatemala, Peru, India, and Rwanda that relied primarily on biomass fuels for cooking.

Exposure-response relationship of household air pollution on body mass index among women in rural areas of Guatemala, India, Peru and Rwanda: household air pollution intervention network trial.

Background: Household air pollution from burning biomass materials, the main cooking fuel in low- and middle-income countries, may be linked to metabolic dysfunction. We assessed cross-sectional associations between household air pollution and body mass index (BMI), expecting to see increased BMI with higher pollution concentrations.

Methods: We analyzed data from 414 women aged 40 to 79 years who resided in the households using biomass fuel and were enrolled in the multi-country Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) Trial.

Association between Personal Exposure to Household Air Pollution and Glycated Hemoglobin among Women in Rural Areas of Guatemala, India, Peru, and Rwanda: Household Air Pollution Intervention Network Trial.

Background: Household air pollution from biomass cookstoves is a major concern in low- and middle-income countries because it may be linked with increasing rates of metabolic disorders such as diabetes. We assessed cross-sectional associations between household air pollution concentrations and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels.

Methods: We analyzed data from 346 women 40 to years of age who cooked with biomass fuel and were enrolled in the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) Trial in Guatemala, India, Peru, and Rwanda.

Predictors of Personal Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter, Black Carbon, and Carbon Monoxide among Pregnant Women in Rwanda: Baseline Data from the HAPIN Trial.

Background: Exposure to household air pollution from the combustion of solid fuels is a leading risk factor for death and disease in low- and middle-income countries, where cleaner cooking and lighting options are often unavailable. Few studies have measured personal exposure during pregnancy, a sensitive period of development, particularly in Africa.

Objective: We aimed to characterize exposure during early to midpregnancy among women in Rwanda and to assess predictors of personal exposure, including stove and fuel type, cooking behaviors, housing conditions, sociodemographic characteristics, and other potential sources of exposure.

Baseline associations between exposure to metals and systolic and diastolic blood pressure among women in the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network Trial.

Lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) are metals that occur naturally in the environment and are present in biomass fuels, such as wood. When these fuels are burned, they can release Pb and Cd into the air, leading to exposure through inhalation. Studies of exposure to metals and health outcomes suggest harmful impacts, including cardiovascular diseases.

Effects of a liquefied petroleum gas stove and fuel intervention on head circumference and length at birth: A multi-country household air pollution intervention network (HAPIN) trial.

Background: Air pollution may impair child growth and cognitive development, with potential markers including birth length and head circumference.

Methods: The Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial was an open label multi-country-randomized controlled trial, with 3200 pregnant women aged 18-34 years (9-19 weeks of gestation) randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stove intervention compared to women continuing to cook with solid fuels for 18 months. Particulate matter ≤ 2.

Cooking with liquefied petroleum gas or biomass and fetal growth outcomes: a multi-country randomised controlled trial.

Background: Household air pollution might lead to fetal growth restriction during pregnancy. We aimed to investigate whether a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) intervention to reduce personal exposures to household air pollution during pregnancy would alter fetal growth.

Methods: The Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial was an open-label randomised controlled trial conducted in ten resource-limited settings across Guatemala, India, Peru, and Rwanda.

Exposure-response relationships for personal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide, and black carbon and birthweight: an observational analysis of the multicountry Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial.

Background: Household air pollution (HAP) from solid fuel use is associated with adverse birth outcomes, but data for exposure-response relationships are scarce. We examined associations between HAP exposures and birthweight in rural Guatemala, India, Peru, and Rwanda during the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial.

Methods: The HAPIN trial recruited pregnant women (9-<20 weeks of gestation) in rural Guatemala, India, Peru, and Rwanda and randomly allocated them to receive a liquefied petroleum gas stove or not (ie, and continue to use biomass fuel).

Lung Ultrasound Protocol and Quality Control of Image Interpretation Using an Adjudication Panel in the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) Trial.

Objective: Lung ultrasound (LUS) is an alternative to chest radiography to confirm a diagnosis of pneumonia. For research and disease surveillance, methods to use LUS to diagnose pneumonia are needed.

Methods: In the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial, LUS was used to confirm a clinical diagnosis of severe pneumonia in infants.

Visualizing Field Data Collection Procedures of Exposure and Biomarker Assessments for the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network Trial in India.

Here, we present a visual representation of standard procedures to collect population-level data on personal exposures to household air pollution (HAP) from two different study sites in a resource-constrained setting of Tamil Nadu, India. Particulate matter PM2.5 (particles smaller than 2.

Liquefied Petroleum Gas or Biomass for Cooking and Effects on Birth Weight.

Background: Exposure during pregnancy to household air pollution caused by the burning of solid biomass fuel is associated with adverse health outcomes, including low birth weight. Whether the replacement of a biomass cookstove with a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cookstove would result in an increase in birth weight is unclear.

Methods: We performed a randomized, controlled trial involving pregnant women (18 to <35 years of age and at 9 to <20 weeks' gestation as confirmed on ultrasonography) in Guatemala, India, Peru, and Rwanda.

Cross-sectional analysis of the association between personal exposure to household air pollution and blood pressure in adult women: Evidence from the multi-country Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial.

Elevated blood pressure (BP) is a leading risk factor for the global burden of disease. Household air pollution (HAP), resulting from the burning of biomass fuels, may be an important cause of elevated BP in resource-poor communities. We examined the exposure-response relationship of personal exposures to HAP -fine particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), and black carbon (BC) - with BP measures in women aged 40-79 years across four resource-poor settings in Guatemala, Peru, India and Rwanda.

Association between personal exposure to household air pollution and gestational blood pressure among women using solid cooking fuels in rural Tamil Nadu, India.

Background: The Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial is an ongoing multi-center randomized controlled trial assessing the impact of a liquified petroleum gas (LPG) cookstove and fuel intervention on health. Given the potential impacts of household air pollution (HAP) exposure from burning solid fuels on cardiovascular health during pregnancy, we sought to determine whether baseline exposures to particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm (PM), black carbon (BC) and carbon monoxide (CO) were associated with blood pressure among 799 pregnant women in Tamil Nadu, India, one of the HAPIN trial centers.

Long term impacts of combined sewer overflow remediation on water quality and population dynamics of Culex quinquefasciatus, the main urban West Nile virus vector in Atlanta, GA.

Background: Combined sewers are a significant source of urban water pollution due to periodic discharges into natural streams. Such events (called combined sewer overflows, or CSOs) contribute to the impairment of natural waterways and are associated with increased mosquito productivity and elevated risk of West Nile virus transmission.

Objectives: We investigated the impact of CSOs on water quality and immature mosquito productivity in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, one year before and four years after CSO facility remediation.