Cooking smoke as harmful as smoking: Study reveals alarming lung damage in Indian women
A new study reveals that chulha smoke may be harming Indian women’s lungs as severely as long-term cigarette smoking. Doctors say many women develop irreversible COPD despite never touching tobacco, often reaching hospitals only when the damage is already advanced.
For millions of Indian women, the day begins the same way it has for generations—hunched over a chulha, tending to the fire that fuels the family’s meals. But new scientific evidence reveals that this seemingly ordinary ritual hides a disturbing truth: cooking smoke may be damaging their lungs as severely as years of cigarette smoking.
The study compared lung disease patterns in two groups: tobacco smokers and women exposed for years to household biomass smoke. One of the most alarming results was the presence of bronchiectasis, a form of permanent lung damage. It was seen in 53% of biomass-exposed COPD patients, compared to only 18% of tobacco smokers.
This kind of structural damage, the researchers noted, helps explain why women using traditional cooking methods suffer from repeated flare-ups, frequent hospitalisations and long-term infections despite never smoking a single cigarette.
Pulmonologists Dr Sourabh Pahuja and Dr Arjun Khanna from Amrita Hospital, Faridabad, have brought long-overdue attention to a form of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) that primarily affects non-smoking women exposed to biomass fuel—wood, crop residue, cow-dung cakes and traditional stoves.
Calling attention to this overlooked crisis, Dr Sanjeev Singh, Medical Director, Amrita Hospital, Faridabad, said, “This study highlights a silent and deeply concerning reality for millions of Indian women. Cooking smoke is often dismissed as a routine part of life, but the lung damage it causes can be as severe, and sometimes more complex, than long-term tobacco exposure. These findings should prompt urgent public health conversations on indoor air quality, early diagnosis and the need to protect vulnerable women in rural households.”
Gender played a central role in the study’s revelations. In the biomass-exposed group, 84–85% were women, many of whom sought medical care only during severe respiratory crises. Unlike smokers who are typically aware of the risks, just 17% of biomass-exposed women understood that cooking smoke could permanently damage the lungs.
This late recognition meant that many walked into emergency rooms already short of breath, fatigued and battling advanced COPD.
Despite having better lung function numbers (FEV1 of 62–64%) compared to smokers (51–52%), these women reported equal or worse breathlessness, more frequent exacerbations, and a higher likelihood of landing in the ICU. Several were diagnosed with tough-to-treat infections like Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which resists common antibiotics.
The research also pointed to socio-cultural hurdles—lower treatment adherence, fewer follow-up visits, long travel distances for medical care, and the deep-rooted belief that indoor smoke is “normal” and harmless.
This combination, researchers say, forms a dangerous trap. Women often continue cooking in smoky environments for decades before symptoms appear, and by then, the lung damage is often irreversible.
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