The Relation between Respiratory Illness in Primary Schoolchildren and the Use of Gas for Cooking

Abstract

Melia R J W [Department of Community Medicine, St. Thomas's Hospital Medical School, London SE1], Florey C du V and Chinn S. The relation between respiratory illness in primary school children and the use of gas for cooking. I - results from a national study. International Journal of Epidemiology 1979, 8: 333–338. The relation between the prevalence of respiratory illness and use of gas for cooking in the home has been investigated in a 5 year longitudinal study of primary schoolchildren from England and Scotland. 4827 boys and girls aged 5 to 10 years from 27 randomly selected areas were examined in 1977, the last year of the study. The prevalence of one or more respiratory symptoms or diseases was higher in children from homes where gas was used for cooking than in those from homes where electricity was used. The association appeared to be independent of age, sex, social class, number of cigarette smokers in the home and latitude but it was only found in urban areas (for boys p < 0.005; for girls p $−˜$ 0.08). In children aged from 6 to 7½ in 1973 who were followed until the last year of the study there was some indication that the association between respiratory illness and gas cooking may have disappeared as the children grew older. However this trend was not obvious in the other age groups who were followed for 2 to 4 years. The evidence of an association between gas cooking and respiratory illness in 1977 supports results for 1973 presented in an earlier report while the cohort results provide some indication that the association may disappear as children grow older.