Climate change has impacted the environmental significantly and may contribute to wildfire events. Increasing drought, changes in fire season duration, alterations in snowmelt, changes in weather patterns, and heat experienced by many places around the globe contribute to more frequent and larger wildfires. Wildfires pose significant challenges to public health because, among other factors, exposures to wildfire smoke likely has a negative effect on community health.
The objective of this study was to describe both the long-term and short-term health impacts in a region affected by wildfires. This study utilized a longitudinal patient-level clinical dataset from a local allergy clinic (n=842) and meteorological data to assess short and longer-term changes in clinical measures of respiratory peak flow.
This study found that there were longer-term significant decreases in respiratory peak flow, but did not detect these changes during the wildfire events. The delayed response relationship was significantly associated with meteorological data and clinically relevant decreases in peak flow when the wind was coming from the fire to the affected community. This study found that on average there was a 2.21 liter per minute decrease in respiratory peak flow for every one percent increase in wind blowing from the fire towards the community. This may suggest that wildfire smoke can act as an adjuvant enhancing allergic sensitization or that wildfire smoke itself may elicit a delayed immune response.
