Abstract

AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY OF LONG TERM EXPOSURE TO FIRE AND ITS HEALTH IMPACT IN FEMALE COOKS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ABNORMAL UTERINE BLEEDING (ASRUKDARA)

Dr. Bhakti Prakash Kale*

Abstract

Long term exposure to fire (अनलसेवा) is one of the etiological factors of raktavaha srotasa vitiation and asrukdara is one of the vitiation signs of raktavaha srotasa. Occupations or workplaces where one works near fire are the fire fighters, miners, workers working near industrial fire, etc and the domestic and hotel cooks. Abnormal uterine bleeding is a common gynaecological complaint with multiple aetiology and diverse pathophysiology. It consists of the conditions like menorrhagia, polymenorrhagia, metrorrhagia, oligomenorrhagia, hypomenorrhoea. According to aacharya, excessive and/or prolonged blood loss during menstruation or even scanty blood loss during inter menstrual period with body ache and pain is known as asrukdara. Hence, the signs and symptoms of conditions under abnormal uterine bleeding can be correlated with signs and symptoms of asrukdara. Total 100 female cooks who had daily exposure to fire were included according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. They were studied for any abnormal uterine bleeding. In this study, it was observed that 37 females out of 100 were suffering from abnormal uterine bleeding (asrukdara). Hence, it was proved that, there is association between long term exposure to fire and abnormal uterine bleeding i.e. asrukdara in female cooks.

Keywords: Long term exposure to fire, अनलसेवा, abnormal uterine bleeding, asrukdara, raktawaha strotas, female cooks.