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Wildfires and the Changing Landscape of Air Pollution-related Health Burden in California
Citation:
Rappold, A. Wildfires and the Changing Landscape of Air Pollution-related Health Burden in California. International society of environmental epidemiology, Kaohsiung, TAIWAN, PROVINCE OF CHINA, September 17 - 22, 2023.
Impact/Purpose:
Increasing wildfire activity in California threatens to offset the health benefits gained in the past by improvements in air quality. Greater understanding of the impact of wildfire smoke on California’s efforts to reduce exposures to air pollution, particularly among vulnerable groups, will be important in formulating an equitable public health response. This analysis developed methodology for assessing health burden related to particulate matter and wildfire smoke.
Description:
qWildfires in California have intensified in frequency, severity, and duration due to extreme weather patterns driven by climate change1,2,3. qWildfire smoke has countered trends in air quality improvements, accounting for up to 50% of ambient mass concentrations of fine particulate matter <2.5 μm (PM2.5) in the Western U.S4. qPM2.5 is a known risk factor for cardiorespiratory morbidity and mortality5. qDisparities in wildfire PM2.5 exposure and population health impacts have not been well-characterized in California. Objective: 1) To quantify the fraction of the cardiorespiratory health burden attributed to ambient PM2.5 and wildfire smoke over time, 2) To characterize the distribution of the burden across demographic and geographic strata in qThe baseline rate of respiratory morbidity was lower than cardiovascular morbidity; however, the PM2.5 -attributed burden was larger for respiratory compared to: Cardiovascular burden due to the larger magnitude of the relative risk. qThe highest PM2.5 -attributed burden rate was observed for respiratory ED visits (92 per 100,000), accounting for 2.2% of the annual respiratory burden. The PM2.5 -burden rate for cardiovascular ED visits was 39 per 100,000 (0.9%), q qAsian populations had the highest relative risk and largest attributable fraction of the PM2.5 burden (3.2%) for respiratory related ED visits. q qThe fraction of the PM2.5 -attributed burden related to wildfire smoke constituted up to 15% of the annual PM2.5 –burden. qqRural, Central, and Northern California populations experienced the largest smoke-related PM2.5 –burden.