WEDNESDAY, June 23, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- Gas cooking in the home may raise young children's risk for respiratory illness, according to a study in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood.
Researchers surveyed the parents of 426 children in two Hong Kong housing complexes, one of them located in an area with high environmental pollution. The children ranged in age from a few months to 6 years old. Parents were asked if they cooked with gas and whether or not they smoked.
One in four of the children in the study had at least one confirmed respiratory condition. The most common conditions were allergic rhinitis, asthma, sinusitis, and bronchitis.
After accounting for socioeconomic factors, the researchers concluded that there was a link between gas cooking and respiratory illness among children living in the housing complex with otherwise low levels of environmental pollution.
The study found that children from households where gas was used to cook meals two or three times a day were six times as likely to have a respiratory condition as were children who lived in homes with no gas stove.
In homes were gas was used to cook one meal a day, children had a threefold greater risk of respiratory illness.
More frequent use of gas for cooking produces higher levels of nitrous oxide. Those levels, along with the fumes from the cooking process, build up in poorly ventilated kitchens, the study authors wrote.
More information
The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology has more about rhinitis.
