Abstract
During summer in early 2016, over 70 landscape fires in Tasmania (Australia) caused several severe episodes of fire smoke across the island state. To assess the health impact of the fire smoke, a case crossover analysis was performed, which measured the association between increased concentrations of PM2.5 and emergency ambulance dispatches (EAD) from 1 January to 31 March 2016. Control days were matched by latitude and longitude, day of the week and calendar month. Exposure data were obtained from air quality monitoring stations at lag times of 1–48 h and for the 24-h mean on the same day and 1-day lag. Positive associations were observed between an increase of 10 µg/m3 in PM2.5 and EAD for stroke on the same day (OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.02–1.19) and at 1-day lag (OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.02–1.18). Furthermore, there were non-significant increases in breathing problems (OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.00–1.08) and diabetic problems (OR 1.11, 95% CI 0.99–1.22) at 1-day lag. The EAD for all causes were not increased. These findings will be used for ambulance service planning and public health risk communication in future landscape fire events.
Highlights
IntroductionDuring an unusually hot and dry summer in early 2016, over 70 landscape fires within a60-day period in Tasmania (Australia) caused severe episodes of fire smoke across the island state.The concentrations of fine particulate matter (microscopic particles with diameters of less than2.5 micrometers that are suspended in the air; PM2.5 ) were recorded to have an average of up to500 μg/m3 over h, which are far higher than the Australian National Environment ProtectionMeasure (NEPM) Standard of an average 24-h concentration of μg/m3
During an unusually hot and dry summer in early 2016, over 70 landscape fires within a60-day period in Tasmania (Australia) caused severe episodes of fire smoke across the island state.The concentrations of fine particulate matter were recorded to have an average of up to500 μg/m3 over h, which are far higher than the Australian National Environment ProtectionMeasure (NEPM) Standard of an average 24-h concentration of μg/m3
The aim of this study was to determine if the increased concentrations of PM2.5 from fire smoke in Tasmania from 1 January to 31 March 2016 were associated with an increase in all-cause, respiratory-related or cardiovascular-related emergency ambulance dispatches (EAD)
Summary
During an unusually hot and dry summer in early 2016, over 70 landscape fires within a60-day period in Tasmania (Australia) caused severe episodes of fire smoke across the island state.The concentrations of fine particulate matter (microscopic particles with diameters of less than2.5 micrometers that are suspended in the air; PM2.5 ) were recorded to have an average of up to500 μg/m3 over h, which are far higher than the Australian National Environment ProtectionMeasure (NEPM) Standard of an average 24-h concentration of μg/m3. The health effects of air pollution are predominately due to PM2.5 generated during combustion. These include acute effects, such as asthma exacerbations, myocardial infarction and stroke; and chronic. Ambient air pollution is the leading environmental cause of death, resulting in 4.2 million deaths each year (7.6% of all deaths) [2]. The major global causes of death that are attributable to ambient air pollution include COPD (27.1%), lung cancer (16.5%), ischemic heart disease (17.1%) and cerebrovascular disease (14.2%) [2]. Among the global burden of disease from ambient air pollution, 340,000 deaths each year have been attributed directly to landscape fire smoke [3]
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