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Smoke Sense – a crowd sourced study of health impacts of wildland fire smoke exposures
Citation:
Rappold, A., K. Rappazzo, S. Stone, D. Diaz-Sanchez, N. Fann, AND B. Hubbell. Smoke Sense – a crowd sourced study of health impacts of wildland fire smoke exposures. International Society of Environmental Epidemiology, Sydney, New South Wales, AUSTRALIA, September 24 - 28, 2017.
Impact/Purpose:
The results of this study are anticipated to facilitate the development of health risk communication strategies which are a key element to reducing public health burden during smoke events.
Description:
Exposure to particles and gasses found in wildfire smoke are linked to a range of health outcomes, affecting wellbeing and productivity in the affected communities. The impacts of the most severe outcomes are well documented in scientific literature; but less is known about the health burden due to the less severe outcomes, which affect a wider population and may substantially contribute to the public health burden and economic productivity in the communities. This abstract presents the protocol and the results of the Smoke Sense Study - the first crowd sourced study of health impacts during wildland fire smoke events in the U.S.. This study improves understanding of the low severity health impacts in populations and determines health risk communication strategies that influence individuals’ behaviors and reduce the public health burden during significant smoke episodes. The results of this study are anticipated to facilitate the development of health risk communication strategies which are a key element to reducing public health burden during smoke events.