Paper Title
EDUCATION ON AIR POLLUTION AND ITS IMPACT ON HUMAN LUNG HEALTH IN TUBERCULOSIS IN RURAL INDIA

Abstract
Abstract – Background: The study was undertaken to assess the relation of air quality on tubercular patients and analyse the effect of environmental amelioration on air quality and lung health. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional prospective interventional study. 23 tubercular patients, which were sputum positive pulmonary TB cases, were enrolled at Regional Hospital Solan. The lung function assessment was undertaken with the help of spirometry at 0, 2 and 6 months of anti-tubercular treatment. Environmental amelioration awareness camps were organized in these ten villages and by enrolling 30 participants from each of the village (N=300), initially and at the end of six months of the awareness programme. Results: Per unit improvement in Air Quality Index with organization of camps, with increase in knowledge index and with increase in practice index was 16.6, 11.86 and 13.91 respectively. There was per unit increase in lung health index with 0.0005 unit improvement of air quality. Positive correlation was observed between organization of awareness camps and improvement in air quality (r = 0.31), between improvement in knowledge index and improvement in air quality (r = 0.25). The improvement in the lung health showed a mild positive significant correlation with the improvement of the AQI (r = .17) and with the organization of the camps (r = 0.25). AQI dropped by 26.8 units. Conclusion: Environmental amelioration steps adopted increased the lung health of tubercular patients and these have been recommended to the health administration for further propagation. Keywords - Air quality; Awareness camps; Environmental amelioration; Lung health; Tuberculosis