Cardiopulmonary Outcomes and Household Air Pollution Trial (CHAP)

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Status: Completed

Conditions: Endothelial Function; Carotid Intima Media Thickness; Respiratory Function Tests; Blood Pressure; Signs and Symptoms, Respiratory

Treatments: Other: Delivery of LPG tanks; Other: Vouchers for LPG tanks; Device: Three-burner LPG stove

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02994680

IRB00007128

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this randomized controlled field trial is to determine whether a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stove and fuel distribution intervention reduces personal and kitchen exposure to household air pollutants and improves cardiopulmonary health outcomes when compared to usual cooking practices with open-fire biomass-burning stoves in adult women aged 25-64 years.

Full description

Randomized, controlled field trial of an LPG stove and fuel distribution intervention compared to standard cooking practices with open-fire biomass-burning stoves in the homes of participating adult women aged 25-64 years. The aim is to determine whether provision of cleaner fuels will result in important reductions in household air pollutants and consequently in an improvement in cardiopulmonary health outcomes over a one-year period. Participants randomly assigned to the intervention arm will receive a free LPG stove and fuel delivered to their homes during the one-year intervention period. Participants randomly assigned to the control arm will receive a free LPG stove and vouchers that can be used to obtain free fuel for an entire year at LPG fuel distribution centers at the end of the one-year intervention period. All participants will be followed for a second year to assess patterns and impacts of sustained use (intervention arm) and initial adoption (control arm).

Enrollment: 181 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 25 to 64 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Female
• Full-time resident ≥6 months in current location
• Capable of understanding procedures
• Capable of providing informed consent and responding to a questionnaire
• Primary household cook
• Currently using a traditional stove as primary stove for cooking
• Cooking room/area separate from sleeping room/area to minimize probability of use of biomass fuel stoves for heating living space.

Exclusion criteria

• Plans to move from the area within one year
• Uncontrolled hypertension
• Diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Pregnant or planning pregnancy in the next year

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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181 participants in 2 patient groups

Intervention arm

Experimental group

Description:

Will receive: 1. Three-burner LPG stove (at enrollment) 2. Delivery of LPG tanks (beginning at enrollment for one year) The study will be conducted over three years, with staggered enrollment over one year, one year of observations during the intervention period, and one year of follow-up observations after the intervention period for each participant. Participants in the intervention arm will receive an LPG stove upon enrollment and the research team will deliver fuel twice monthly to their homes during the first year. Participants in the intervention arm will not receive fuel during the second year, but researchers will encourage these participants to continue using LPG fuel for cooking.

Treatment:

Device: Three-burner LPG stove

Other: Delivery of LPG tanks

Control arm

Active Comparator group

Description:

Will receive: 1. Three-burner LPG stove (one year after enrollment) 2. Vouchers for LPG tanks (one year after enrollment) Participants in the control arm but will not receive an LPG stove or fuel during the first year. Instead, participants will receive an LPG stove at the end of the first year and vouchers to obtain free fuel at distribution centers during the course of the second year.

Treatment:

Device: Three-burner LPG stove

Other: Vouchers for LPG tanks