Primary and pharmaceutical care usage concurrent associations with a severe smoke episode and low ambient air pollution in early life

Landscape fires are an integral component of the Earth system and a feature of prehistoric, subsistence, and industrial economies. Specific spatiotemporal patterns of landscape fire occur in different locations around the world, shaped by the interactions between environmental and human drivers of fire activity. Seven distinct types of landscape fire emerge from these interactions: remote area fires, wildfire disasters, savanna fires, Indigenous burning, prescribed burning, agricultural burning, and deforestation fires. All can have substantial impacts on human health and well-being directly and indirectly through ( a) exposure to heat flux (e.g., injuries and destructive impacts), ( b) emissions (e.g., smoke-related health impacts), and ( c) altered ecosystem functioning (e.g., biodiversity, amenity, water quality, and climate impacts). Minimizing the adverse effects of landscape fires on population health requires understanding how human and environmental influences on fire impacts can be modified through interventions targeted at individual, community, and regional levels. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Public Health, Volume 45 is April 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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Exposure to air pollution concentrations of various intensities in early life and allergic sensitisation later in childhood

Ziou,

Gao,

Wheeler

et al. 2023

BMC Pulm Med

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Background Evidence on the relationship between air pollution and allergic sensitisation in childhood is inconsistent, and this relationship has not been investigated in the context of smoke events that are predicted to increase with climate change. Thus, we aimed to evaluate associations between exposure in two early life periods to severe levels of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 μm (PM2.5) from a mine fire, background PM2.5, and allergic sensitisation later in childhood. Methods We measured specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels for seven common aeroallergens as well as total IgE levels in a cohort of children who had been exposed to the Hazelwood coal mine fire, either in utero or during their first two years of life, in a regional area of Australia where ambient levels of PM2.5 are generally low. We estimated personal exposure to fire-specific emissions of PM2.5 based on a high-resolution meteorological and pollutant dispersion model and detailed reported movements of pregnant mothers and young children during the fire. We also estimated the usual background exposure to PM2.5 at the residential address at birth using a national satellite-based land-use regression model. Associations between both sources of PM2.5 and sensitisation to dust, cat, fungi, and grass seven years after the fire were estimated with logistic regression, while associations with total IgE levels were estimated with linear regression. Results No association was found between the levels of exposure at either developmental stage to fire-related PM2.5 and allergic sensitisation seven years after the event. However, levels of background exposure were positively associated with sensitisation to dust (OR = 1.90, 95%CI = 1.12,3.21 per 1 μg/m3). Conclusions Chronic but low exposure to PM2.5 in early life could be more strongly associated with allergic sensitisation in childhood than time-limited high exposure levels, such as the ones experienced during landscape fires.

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Primary and pharmaceutical care usage concurrent associations with a severe smoke episode and low ambient air pollution in early life

Cited by 4 publications

References 65 publications

Approaches in landscape fire smoke pregnancy research and the impact on offspring: A review of knowledge gaps and recommendations

Approaches in landscape fire smoke pregnancy research and the impact on offspring: A review of knowledge gaps and recommendations

Climate Change, Landscape Fires, and Human Health: A Global Perspective

Exposure to air pollution concentrations of various intensities in early life and allergic sensitisation later in childhood

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