Background. Biomass smoke exposure is a known risk factor for chronic bronchitis. Psychiatric comorbidities may have significant impact on the quality of life of patients with chronic bronchitis. Methods. Women who engage in fish preservation by drying over burning firewood in a fishing community were recruited for this survey. The British medical research questionnaire was used to determine chronic bronchitis, and psychological distress was determined using the hospital anxiety and depression scale. Results. A total of 342 women were recruited for this study and 63 of them had chronic bronchitis. 96 women had features suggestive of psychological distress: 57 (16.6%) women with anxiety, 51 (14.9%) women with depression and 12 women (3.5%) had combined features. Psychological distress was more common among women with chronic bronchitis. Anxiety was significantly associated with chronic bronchitis and the level of biomass exposure while depression was significantly associated with chronic bronchitis, level of exposure, and a history of sleeping in the fish smoking room. Conclusion. Anxiety and depression show significant association with chronic bronchitis among women with biomass smoke exposure with the level of exposure having an aggravating effect on the relationship. 1. Introduction Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is essentially an irreversible and progressive disease of airflow limitation in the lung caused by small airway disease and parenchyma destruction. It is largely preventable and a major public health concern worldwide [1]. The chronic airflow limitation which is the hallmark of COPD is caused by small airway disease, that is, chronic bronchitis, and the destruction of lung parenchyma, that is, emphysema. Chronic bronchitis is defined clinically as chronic productive cough on most days for three months in each of two successive years in a patient in whom other causes of productive chronic cough have been excluded [2]. Emphysema is defined pathologically as the presence of permanent enlargement of the airspaces distal to the terminal bronchioles, accompanied by the destruction of their walls and without obvious fibrosis [3]. The relative contribution of each of these conditions to an individual patient varies and either of these conditions may or may not occur in COPD. COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States and is expected to surpass stroke within a decade to be the third leading cause of death [4]. However, in the developed countries, the prevalence of COPD/chronic bronchitis ranges between 3% and 17%,
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