Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jan 16;20(1):e0317581.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0317581. eCollection 2025.

Socioeconomic disparities in mortality from indoor air pollution: A multi-country study

Muayad Albadrani  1
Affiliations

Socioeconomic disparities in mortality from indoor air pollution: A multi-country study

Muayad Albadrani. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Indoor air pollution is a major public health concern, contributing to approximately 2.9 million deaths and 81.1 million disability-adjusted life years lost annually. This issue disproportionately affects underprivileged communities that depend on solid fuels for cooking. As a result, these communities suffer from heightened exposure to indoor air pollutants, which increases the risk of morbidity, mortality, and worsening health disparities.

Objective: This study investigates the association between socioeconomic status and mortality related to indoor air pollution across multiple countries.

Methods: Data from the 2019 Demographic and Health Survey, WHO, and World Bank were utilized to examine the impact of socioeconomic status on indoor air pollution-related mortality. The primary outcome was mortality associated with solid fuel use, with income quintiles as the independent variable. Linear and logistic regression analyses were applied to assess these relationships.

Results: Logistic regression analysis revealed a strong negative association where household income increases and indoor air pollution-related mortality significantly decreases. Specifically, Households in the highest income quartile showed a 22% reduction progressively in the odds of mortality risk compared to the lowest income quintile. Additionally, access to clean fuel correlated with a 0.59 times lower odds of mortality, highlighting the clean energy sources' protecting effect.

Conclusion: The findings highlight the critical need to prioritize clean fuel access, particularly in low-income communities, to reduce indoor air pollution mortality. Policies should focus on increasing clean energy accessibility and supporting vulnerable populations through targeted subsidies and poverty alleviation programs to reduce indoor air pollution exposure disparities.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The author declares that there is nothing to disclose.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Analytic framework.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Diagrammatic framework of the determinants of mortality due to indoor air pollution.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Lee C. Evaluating Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of environmental justice. Environ Justice. 2021;14(5):332–7.
    1. Ulibarri N, Figueroa OP, Grant A. Barriers and opportunities to incorporating environmental justice in the National Environmental Policy Act. Environ Impact Assess Rev. 2022;97:106880.
    1. World Health Organization. Fact sheet—Household air pollution and health. 2018 [cited 2024 Jan 4]. Available from: https://ourworldindata.org/indoor-air-pollution.
    1. Harrison R. Associations of long-term average concentrations of nitrogen dioxide with mortality. COMEAP report. 2018.
    1. Gligorovski S. Nitrous acid (HONO): An emerging indoor pollutant. J Photochem Photobiol A Chem. 2016;314:1–5.