Wildfires and the Changing Landscape of Air Pollution–related Health Burden in California

Thilakaratne, Ruwan; Hoshiko, Sumi; Rosenberg, Andrew; Hayashi, Thomas; Buckman, Joseph; Rappold, Ana G.

doi:10.1164/rccm.202207-1324oc

Cited by 17 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Evidence suggests that populations in wealthier counties more often Google "air lter" and stay fully indoors at home on heavy wild re smoke days compared to populations in lower income counties (45). These differences, as well as other factors like pre-existing health conditions, may explain stronger relationships observed between wild re smoke exposure and adverse health effects among older adults and persistently marginalized racial/ethnic groups (37,54,55). We did not assess differences in associations by region of California, including air basins or metropolitan areas with different air quality and meteorological characteristics, though preliminary research suggests EJ-related disparities may be more pronounced in some regions (52).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Long-Term Exposure to Wildfire PM2.5 in California: Time-Varying Inequities in Environmental Burden

JA¹,

MA²,

Padula³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Introduction: While considered extreme events, wildfires will lengthen and strengthen in a changing climate, becoming an omnipresent climate-sensitive exposure. However, few studies consider long-term exposure to wildfire fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Here, we present a conceptual model to assess long-term wildfire PM2.5 exposure and evaluate disproportionate exposures among marginalized communities. Methods: We used 2006-2020 California census tract-level daily wildfire PM2.5 concentrations generated from monitoring data and statistical techniques to derive five long-term wildfire PM2.5 measures. We classified tracts based on their CalEnviroScreen (CES) score, a composite measure of environmental and social vulnerability burdens, and their racial/ethnic composition. We determined associations of (a) CES score and (b) racial/ethnic composition with the five wildfire PM2.5 measures using separate mixed-effects models accounting for year and population density. To assess differences by year, models included CES or race/ethnicityyear interaction terms. Results: We conceptualized and compared five annual wildfire PM2.5 exposure measures to characterize intermittent and extreme exposure over long-term periods: (1) weeks with wildfire PM2.5 >5μg/m3; (2) days with non-zero wildfire PM2.5; (3) mean wildfire PM2.5 during peak exposure week; (4) smoke-waves (2 consecutive days with 25μg/m3 wildfire PM2.5); (5) annual mean wildfire PM2.5 concentration. Within individual years, we observed exposure disparities, but generally did not when averaging over the study period. Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native populations, however, were consistently over-represented among the exposed population compared to their California-wide representation. Conclusion: We found that wildfire PM2.5, measured via five metrics, disproportionately affected persistently marginalized California communities—with substantial year-to-year variability.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Long-Term Exposure to Wildfire PM2.5 in California: Time-Varying Inequities in Environmental Burden

JA¹,

MA²,

Padula³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…ED visits related to respiratory disease (asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and other conditions) and cardiovascular disease (myocardial infarction, hypertension, and other conditions) were identified using the International Classification of Diseases ninth revision and tenth revision Clinical Modification (ICD‐9‐CM and ICD‐10‐CM) diagnosis codes. Details on the specific disease codes have been previously reported (Thilakaratne et al., 2022). Visit‐level data were aggregated by date and ZIP code of residence to produce daily ZIP code‐level counts of each health outcome.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Details on the statistical models used to estimate associations between cardiorespiratory outcomes and aPM 2.5 have been previously reported in Thilakaratne et al. (2022). Briefly, Poisson regressions were applied to estimate the relative risk associated with aPM 2.5 and daily counts of ED visits for respiratory and cardiovascular outcomes separately.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health Impacts of Future Prescribed Fire Smoke: Considerations From an Exposure Scenario in California

Rosenberg,

Hoshiko,

Buckman

et al. 2024

Earth's Future

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In response to increasing wildfire risks, California plans to expand the use of prescribed fire. We characterized the anticipated change in health impacts from exposure to smoke under a future fire‐management scenario relative to a historical period (2008–2016). Using dispersion models, we estimated daily fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions from hypothetical future prescribed fires on 500,000‐acres classified as high priority. To evaluate health impacts, we calculated excess daily cardiorespiratory emergency department visit rates attributed to all‐source PM2.5, distinguishing the portion of the burden attributed to prescribed fire. The total burden was differentiated by fire type and by smoke strata‐specific days to calculate strata‐specific burden rates, which were then applied to estimate the burden in the future scenario. This analysis suggests that the exposure to prescribed fire smoke, measured as the number of persons exposed per year, would be 15 times greater in the future. However, these exposures were associated with lower concentrations compared to the historical period. The increased number of exposure days led to an overall increase in the future health burden. Specifically, the northern, central, and southern regions experienced the largest burden increase. This study introduces an approach that integrates spatiotemporal exposure differences, baseline morbidity, and population size to assess the impacts of prescribed fire under a future scenario. The findings highlight the need to consider both the level and frequency of exposure to guide strategies to safeguard public health as well as aid forest management agencies in making informed decisions to protect communities while mitigating wildfire risks.

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“…A systematic review published in 2021 found that for 5 pre-post and 11 cross-sectional studies of sites from the USA and several other countries, there was a significant increase in emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations for respiratory illnesses after WFS exposure, particularly in children < 5 years old [ 11 ]. Techniques have advanced to estimate the PM 2.5 health effects specific for WFS in large populations, using combinations of ground-level monitoring and satellite imaging with chemical analysis of aerosols; in California, such studies have demonstrated exposure dose-related increases in respiratory hospitalizations in the presence of WFS [ 12 ] and health disparities in PM 2.5 exposures [ 13 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Wildfire Smoke on Asthma and Allergy

Noah

Worden

Rebuli

et al. 2023

Curr Allergy Asthma Rep

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Purpose of Review To review the recent literature on the effects of wildfire smoke (WFS) exposure on asthma and allergic disease, and on potential mechanisms of disease. Recent Findings Spatiotemporal modeling and increased ground-level monitoring data are allowing a more detailed picture of the health effects of WFS exposure to emerge, especially with regard to asthma. There is also epidemiologic and some experimental evidence to suggest that WFS exposure increases allergic predisposition and upper airway or sinonasal disease, though much of the literature in this area is focused more generally on PM 2.5 and is not specific for WFS. Experimental evidence for mechanisms includes disruption of epithelial integrity with downstream effects on inflammatory or immune pathways, but experimental models to date have not consistently reflected human disease in this area. Summary Exposure to WFS has an acute detrimental effect on asthma. Potential mechanisms are suggested by in vitro and animal studies.

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Wildfires and the Changing Landscape of Air Pollution–related Health Burden in California

Cited by 17 publications

References 38 publications

Measuring Long-Term Exposure to Wildfire PM2.5 in California: Time-Varying Inequities in Environmental Burden

Measuring Long-Term Exposure to Wildfire PM2.5 in California: Time-Varying Inequities in Environmental Burden

Health Impacts of Future Prescribed Fire Smoke: Considerations From an Exposure Scenario in California

The Effects of Wildfire Smoke on Asthma and Allergy

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