Ritual Risk: Incense Use and Cardiovascular Mortality

Ritual Risk: Incense Use and Cardiovascular Mortality

Numerous studies have examined exposures to indoor combustion products such as secondhand smoke and emissions from burning of solid fuels. However, only a few have examined incense burning as a potential health threat, even though incense is commonly used for religious and ritual purposes in China, Taiwan, Singapore, India, and Middle Eastern nations. In this issue of EHP, investigators report ...

Incense Use and Cardiovascular Mortality among Chinese in Singapore: The Singapore Chinese Health Study

BACKGROUND Incense burning is common in many parts of the world. Although it is perceived that particulate matter from incense smoke is deleterious to health, there is no epidemiologic evidence linking domestic exposure to cardiovascular mortality. OBJECTIVE We examined the association between exposure to incense burning and cardiovascular mortality in the Singapore Chinese Health Study. ME...

Incense and ritual plant use in Southwest China: A case study among the Bai in Shaxi

BACKGROUND Ritual and religious uses of plant-derived smoke are widespread throughout the world. Our research focuses on Southwest China, where the use of incense is very common. This study aims to document and analyze contemporary ritual plant uses by the Bai people of Shaxi Township (Jianchuan County, Dali Prefecture, Yunnan Province), including their related ethnobotanical knowledge, practic...

RAMADAN AND CARDIOVASCULAR DRUG USE

Household Fuel Use and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality