Indoor cooking on wood fires linked to pregnancy deaths

Fumes released from cooking indoors over a fire can lead to life-threatening complications for some pregnant women, new research has found.

The study, carried out by King’s College London, discovered indoor household pollution from wood or charcoal fires can lead to poor pregnancy repercussions for women living in low and middle-income nations.

The connection between the rate of eclampsia and the number of deaths triggered by indoor household pollution was examined by researchers.

Eclampsia is a serious life-threatening condition which sees high blood pressure lead to women experiencing seizures while pregnant - with women who have no history of seizures able to develop the rare condition.

It is a severe complication of preeclampsia, which is another condition that some pregnant women experience, with early indicators including protein in urine and high blood pressure.

Andrew Shennan, one of the report’s lead authors, said: “In-house cooking and household pollution may increase the risk of seizures. We believe that less oxygen will get to the mother’s brain, and this may trigger a fit in women who already have pre-eclampsia.”

Progressor Shennan, who is at King’s College London, said they were fortunate to “have such a large dataset of women with eclampsia, as it only occurs in one per cent of women with pre-eclampsia.”

He added: “This has allowed us to uncover this new finding. This could help explain observed inequalities in maternal healthcare in low- and middle income countries.”

An earlier King’s study discovered 94 per cent of maternal deaths take place in low- and middle-income countries, with almost a quarter as a result of high blood pressure conditions such as eclampsia.

Professor Shennan said: “Knowing why women have these severe outcomes allows us to reduce the risk of eclampsia and work out how to save lives.

“We have large programmes of work in India, Sierra Leone and Zambia where many women have complications related to high blood pressure.

“Our current research is aimed at identifying the women at risk but now we are looking at ways to reduce risk, including earlier delivery. This data will help us to give advice about avoiding risk at home.”

The latest study, published in the International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, saw researchers look at than 2,690 cases of eclampsia in India, Ethiopia, Haiti, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Uganda.

The study discovered a substantial link betweens deaths as a result of indoor household pollution and eclampsia rates – with the correlation starker when eclampsia took place at home.

Researchers noted low- and middle-income nations have greater issues with indoor household pollution due to being more likely to use wood and charcoal to cook with and heat a home - with evidence finding such pollution raises the chance of negative birth outcomes.