The Chest Research Foundation (CRF) of India, a respiratory health research and education body set up in 2002, has initiated what it says is the world's first study to locate the cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in non-smokers. The Government of India Ministry of Health and Welfare says India has 17 million living with COPD, a number that is estimated to go up to 22 million by 2016, according to a story in the Mint.The study is being conducted in collaboration with the Imperial College of London.
While obstructive airways diseases are typically considered an after-effect of rapid urbanization, the pressures of modern living and ignorance, new studies have established that a substantial number of COPD patients were exposed to indoor air pollution due to smoke from biomass fuel such as firewood, CRF director Sundeep Salvi said.
Around 70% of households in India, especially in rural regions, use biomass fuel for cooking. “This has actually led our research to focus on the rural population and the spread of the disease among non-smokers,” said Salvi.
Of the patients with COPD, around 40% are non-smokers, but Salvi said this number could increase as nearly half the world’s population is exposed to biomass fuel.
