The study also says that 6.9 per cent in the Indian population suffers from respiratory diseases. Among those identified with COPD, only 7 per cent were smokers while the remaining 93 per cent were non-smokers. Over 700 million people in India suffer from high levels of indoor air pollution affecting women and young children as 75 per cent homes use biomass fuel like wood, crop residue and dung cakes.
The age factor was particularly disturbing. "Nearly 23 per cent of COPDs occurred in people less than 40 years of age. It was believed that COPD starts after 40 in people who have been smoking for over 15-20 years. In India, where the exposure to indoor air pollution begins from childhood, it occurs in younger people," said chest physician Sundeep Salvi, director of the CRF to Times of India.
According to a report published by the Maharashtra State Health Resource Centre in March 2010 that examined the top 10 causes of deaths in Maharashtra, COPD was the number one cause.
The study was conducted in 22 rural villages in Pune district with a population of over 1 lakh. As many as 3,000 adults over the age of 25 years were randomly selected for the study which used a standardised respiratory health questionnaire and spirometry (lung function test for determining COPD).
Read the Times of India Story, "Young Lungs At Higher Risk From Wood Smoke, Dung Cakes"
