Association between type of cooking fuel and body mass index among women in Cambodia

Introduction: Solid cooking fuel is the primary source of energy for almost half of the world’s population. Studies have examined the association between solid cooking fuel and respiratory and cardiovascular disease, negative pregnancy outcomes, and shortened life expectancy. However, no study has examined the association between solid cooking fuel and Body Mass Index (BMI) among women in Cambodia. Methods: Data was taken from the 2014 Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey (N=3249), women aged 15-49 years. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association between type of cooking fuel and BMI, controlling for age, education, marital status, parity, employment status, kitchen being a separate room, location of cooking food, and household wealth index. Results: Compared to younger women, older women were more likely to be overweight/obese shown by multivariable adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for women aged 25-34 years 2.64 (1.80, 3.86), and for women aged 35-49 years 4.97 (3.20, 7.72). Compared to women who reside in poor households, the odds of being overweight/obese were higher for women residing in a middle household wealth index 2.62 (1.52, 4.52), and women residing in rich household wealth index 2.78 (1.83, 4.24). When adjusting for potential confounding variables, the association between type of cooking fuel and BMI observed in the unadjusted model disappeared (p = 0.103). Conclusion: These findings indicate that type of cooking fuel is not significantly associated with BMI in a nationally representative sample of women in Cambodia.