Objective To examine the prevalences of respiratory symptoms and their impact factors among rural female residents in Huaihe River Basin for providing evidences to prevention and control of chronic respiratory diseases in the women.
Methods The data on 1 394 adult (20 – 75 years) female non-smokers living 3 years and longer in local rural areas were extracted from a sampling survey on respiratory symptom-related exposures and environmental factors conducted in 6 counties/districts of 4 provinces in Huaihe River Basin between November 2015 and October 2018. The prevalences of self-reported respiratory symptoms were examined statistically and impact factors of the symptoms were explored with Answer Tree analysis.
Results Respiratory symptoms were reported by 34.7% (484) of the all women and the self-reported prevalences of cough/expectoration and wheezing/shortening were 18.1% (253) and 27.2% (379), respectively. The results of Answer Tree analysis showed that the self-reported prevalence of cough/expectoration was significantly lower (14.1%) among the women using gas as the fuel when cooking at home than that (23.2%) among those using other fuels (χ2 = 19.061, P < 0.001); the self-reported prevalence of wheezing/shortness of breath was significantly higher in the elder women (≥ 50 years) than that in the women less than 50 years (23.2% vs. 30.9%, χ2 = 19.588; P < 0.001); and in the women with the education of 9 years and above, the overall prevalence of self-reported respiratory symptoms was significantly lower than that in the women with the education less than 9 years (27.6% vs. 39.2%, χ2 = 19.416; P < 0.001).
Conclusion The prevalence of self-reported respiratory symptoms is relatively higher among non-smoking rural women in Huaihe River Basin and the self-reported prevalence of cough/expectoration is associated with cooking fuel and that of wheezing/shortness of breath is correlated with age among the women.
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