Exposure to mosquito repellents and the potential risk factors of congestion: A cross-sectional study

Intense outbreaks of dengue fever have been a major health issue in the province of Punjab during every post-monsoon season of the past few years. Several precautionary measures which include coils, sprays, etc. are employed in each household to minimize possible contact with Aedes mosquitoes (the dengue carriers). Although there is a general perception that the use of mosquito repellents plays a significant role in the development of congestion, especially in closed territories, however the empirical evidence to support this hypothesis is limited and inconclusive. In this paper, we mainly aim to study whether the use of these repellents tend to impart any adverse effects on human health, with a specific inclination towards determining the association between congestion and usage of these repellents. To suffice our purpose, a cross-sectional data of 252 individuals was collected from various areas of Lahore, during the post-monsoon season of the year 2012. Our results demonstrate that there exists a statistically significant association between the use of these repellents (during sleep or otherwise) and chest congestion. Furthermore age of individuals, number of people sleeping in a room; number of congestion patients in a house, gender and family size are also associated with it.