Indoor air pollution in a zone of extreme poverty of Metropolitan Santiago, Chile.

Describes a survey investigating the levels of carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, respirable particulate matter, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and mutagenicity in the PM5 fraction, as well as temperature and humidity, inside 24 houses in La Pintana, Santiago. An additional survey covered symptoms, signs and respiratory diseases possibly associated with socio-economic factors in the area. In areas of extreme poverty in developing countries, for economic reasons, people use solid fuel for cooking and heating which can generate high levels of toxic pollutants by incomplete combustion, which are an important risk factor for human health. It was shown that in children younger than two years, most respiratory diseases occur during winter (75%), the most frequent complaint being bronchitis. The higher pollutant concentrations were observed during heating hours, where coal and firewood was used. Concludes that overcrowding, excessive indoor humidity, very low indoor temperatures when the heating system was off, the presence of domestic animals indoors and general lack of hygiene were risk factors to explain the high incidence of respiratory diseases in children.