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The Role of Woodstoves in the Etiology of Nasal Polyposis
Julie Kim, MD, FRCSC;
James A. Hanley, PhD
Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2002;128:682-686.
Objective To determine the role of environmental pollutants in the etiology of
nasal polyposis.
Design Case-control study.
Setting A community-based hospital practice in the Gaspesian peninsula in rural
northeastern Quebec.
Patients Fifty-five case patients with nasal polyposis and 55 age-matched control
subjects without nasal polyposis who were seen at one physician's practice
(J.K.) from March 1, 1998, to December 19, 1998.
Interventions Exposure to woodstoves, indoor tobacco smoke, and pets and occupational
exposures to noxious inhalant compounds.
Results Forty-five (82%) of the cases, but only 14 (25%) of the controls, reported
using woodstoves, yielding a crude odds ratio (OR) of 13.1. The corresponding
risk associated with occupational exposure to noxious inhalant compounds was
also high (OR, 6.1). When adjusted in various ways for the presence of other
factors, these ORs remained high and statistically significant. For woodstove
use, the point estimates of the ORs were consistently above 10, with the lower
limits of 95% confidence intervals above 5. For occupational exposures to
noxious inhalant compounds, the various adjusted OR estimates were above 6,
with the lower limits above 1.5.
Conclusions There is a strong association between the use of woodstoves as a principal
source of heating and the development of nasal polyposis. Occupational exposures
to noxious inhalant compounds (other than tobacco smoke) also play an important
role in its etiology.
From the Centre Hospitalier l'Hotel Dieu de Gaspé, Gaspé
(Dr Kim), and the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McGill University,
Montreal (Dr Hanley), Quebec. Dr Kim is now with the Department of Otolaryngology,
Reseau Sante Richelieu-Yamaska, St-Hyacinthe, Quebec.
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