Household level of Air Pollution and its impact on the occurrence of Acute Respiratory Illness among children under five: Secondary analyses of Demographic and Health Survey in West Africa

Abstract Background One in ten deaths of children under five are attributable to indoor air pollution, and Acute Respiratory Illness (ARI) are a direct cause. Objective This study made it possible to characterize indoor air pollution in West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) area and to estimate its impact on occurrence of ARI in children under five. Methods This is a secondary analysis on dataset from WAEMU member states’ Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). Pollution is characterized by using a composite variable called “Household level of air pollution”, created from questions related to degradation factors of indoor air quality (domestic combustion processes) and impact measurement was carried out by logistic regression. Results Burkina Faso stands out with a greater number of households with a high level of pollution (63.7%) followed by Benin (43.7%) then Togo (43.0%). The main exposure factor "Household level of air pollution" was only associated with ARI in Togo (prevalence: 51.3%; chi-2: p-value < 0.001). Exposure to high level of pollution constitutes an excess risk, although it is not significant (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR): 1.13, 95% [0.66–1.92]) and this could be explained by the highly infectious etiology of the ARI.