Association between Personal Exposure to Household Air Pollution and Glycated Hemoglobin among Women in Rural Areas of Guatemala, India, Peru, and Rwanda: Household Air Pollution Intervention Network Trial

Adolphe Ndikubwimana, Bonnie N. Young, William Checkley, Yunyun Chen, Thomas Clasen, Carmen Lucía Contreras, Anaite A. Diaz, Ephrem Dusabimana, Lisa de las Fuentes, Sarada S. Garg, Lindsay M. Jaacks, Shirin Jabbarzadeh, Michael Johnson, Egide Kalisa, Patrick Karakwende, Miles Kirby, John P. McCracken, Florien Ndagijimana, Theoneste Ntakirutimana, Dieu NtivuguruzwaJennifer L. Peel, Ricardo Piedrahita, Ajay Pillarisetti, Victor G. Davila-Roman, Ghislaine Rosa, Kyle Steenland, Lindsay Underhill, Lance A. Waller, Jiantong Wang, Wenlu Ye, Dana Boyd Barr, Naveen Puttaswamy, Maggie L. Clark

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Background: Household air pollution from biomass cookstoves is a major concern in low- and middle-income countries because it may be linked with increasing rates of metabolic disorders such as diabetes. We assessed cross-sectional associations between household air pollution concentrations and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels. 

Methods: We analyzed data from 346 women 40 to <80 years of age who cooked with biomass fuel and were enrolled in the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) Trial in Guatemala, India, Peru, and Rwanda. We explored associations of 24-h average personal exposure to fine particulate matter [PM <2:5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2:5)], black carbon (BC), and carbon monoxide (CO) with HbA1c through individual pollutant linear models adjusted for potential confounders. We examined the effect modification of age, body mass index (BMI), and research site on the associations. 

Results: We did not observe evidence of associations between HbA1c (percentage points) and 1-unit increases in log-transformed PM2:5 [-0:07; 95% confidence interval (CI): -0:18, 0.05], BC (0.01; 95% CI: -0:15, 0.13), or CO (0.07; 95% CI: -0:24, 0.10). Effect modification of the BC associations with HbA1c was observed for BMI and research site. An association in the hypothesized direction was observed among women with high BMI (>25kg=m2): 0.13 (95% CI: -0:06, 0.31) compared with low BMI (<25kg=m2): -0:17 (95% CI: -0:38, 0.04; p interaction =0:04). In the Guatemala research site, there was an association in the hypothesized direction with HbA1c and log-transformed BC (0.36; 95% CI: 0.03, 0.70) that was countered by an association in the opposite direction as that hypothesized for the India site (-0:21; 95% CI: -0:45, 0.02) and associations consistent with the null association in the Peru and Rwanda sites (pinteraction = 0:05). No other evidence of effect modification was observed. 

Conclusions: Evidence suggests a need for further research to better understand household air pollution’s influence on HbA1c, with particular attention on potential effect modifiers.

Original languageEnglish
Article number017002
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Health and Pollution
Volume13
Issue number1
Early online date10 Jan 2025
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 10 Jan 2025
Externally publishedYes

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