JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

There are few studies on the impacts of indoor air pollution on visual impairment, and the health effects of exposure to cooking with solid fuels on visual impairment remain unclear.

Objective:

We aimed to examine the association between cooking with solid fuels and visual impairment, including distance vision impairment (DVI) and near vision impairment (NVI).

Methods:

Data was obtained from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, which was nationwide and enrolled in 2011 and followed up through 2018. We used multivariate logistic regression model to examine the association between solid fuels use and visual impairment. The impact of switching cooking fuel types on vision functioning were also examined during the 7 years.

Results:

A total of 6,557 middle-aged and older Chinese without visual impairment at baseline were included, and 53.4% of the participants cooked with solid fuels. During 7 years of follow-up, participants who cooked with solid fuels had higher risk of DVI (odds ratio [OR]: 1.35, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.17-1.56) and NVI (OR: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.06-1.40) compared with the clean fuel users. In addition, switching cooking fuel type from clean to solid fuels was found to have the elevated risk of DVI (OR: 1.60, 95% CI: 1.12-2.30) than persistently using clean fuels during the follow-up period.

Conclusions:

Indoor cooking with solid fuels was prevalent among Chinese population, and its harmful impact on vision health indicates that promoting the utilization of clean fuels is conducive to reduce the burden of visual impairment for the public.