Association between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and indoor air pollution: a review of literature.

COPD is a chronic respiratory disorder responsible for a major burden to the societyworldwide. Although the majority of COPD occurs in current or former smokers, anot negligible proportion of the disease also occurs in persons who have neversmoked. Available data in the literature indicate that indoor pollution exposure largelyaffects respiratory health worldwide. Conservative estimates show that between 1.5million and 2 million deaths per year could be attributed to indoor air pollution, with asignificant proportion of deaths due to COPD. In this review of scientific literature,we will describe relevant findings on the association of non-smoking related COPDwith the exposure to more common indoor air pollutants, in adults. Results: Most ofthe findings relate to the association of COPD with passive smoke and, in developingcountries, biomass combustion exposure. Both these exposures prove to be riskfactors for non-smoking related COPD. Mold/dampness exposure results associated tosymptoms/signs, who may be related to the presence of COPD or its development.Conclusion: In spite of an increased COPD prevalence (predicted to further increasein the next years), and the evidence that other risk factors than smoking may beassociated to COPD development, we found relatively few studies that assessed theassociation between COPD and common indoor air pollution in adult generalpopulation. It would be important to improve awareness on adverse health effectspossibly associated with biomass combustion-related air pollution in developedcountries among others because of the increasing interest for wood and otherbiomasses as potential alternative energy sources.