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Abstract
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The quality of air inside homes, private and public buildings is an essential determinant of health and people's wellbeing. Hazardous substances linked to human activities, such as combustion of fuels for cooking or heating, can lead to a broad range of health issues. Household air pollution and its effects is well recognised in health, but the particular issue of carbon monoxide poisoning has received little attention.
Carbon monoxide is produced by the incomplete combustion of fuels such as wood, petrol, coal, and natural gas. Common domestic sources of carbon monoxide include cookers, boilers, fires, portable generators, gas heaters, fossil fuel burning appliances, clogged chimneys, and tobacco smoke. Exposure to high levels of carbon monoxide (from faulty, poorly maintained, or poorly ventilated cooking or heating appliances) causes non-specific symptoms, such as headaches, nausea, and dizziness. Severe poisoning can lead to a loss of consciousness and death. Crucially, unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning is largely preventable.
To draw attention to this neglected public health issue and potentially prevent carbon monoxide poisoning, quantification of its burden is an essential first step. Several studies have estimated the morbidity and mortality associated with unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning, in selected countries--using different time periods, definitions, or coding systems, which hamper comparisons. In this issue of The Lancet Public Health, the report by Madeline Moberg and the Global Burden of Diseases (GBD) 2021 Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Collaborators fills this gap and provides estimates of mortality due to unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning, globally, trends over time from 2000 to 2021, geographically, and by age and sex, using a common case definition, data gathered from more than 3000 data sources, and a standardised modelling approach.
Language: en |