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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.

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Edwards, LJ and Williamson, G and Williams, Stephanie A and Veitch, MGK and Salimi, F and Johnston, FH
Keywords:	smoke, wildfires, ambulance, health, population
Journal or Publication Title:	Fire
Publisher:	MDPI
ISSN:	2571-6255
DOI / ID Number:	10.3390/fire1020026
Copyright Information:	Copyright 2018 the Authors. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Related URLs:	Google Scholar: Williamson, G UTAS Profile: Williamson, G UTAS Profile: Salimi, F Google Scholar: Johnston, FH UTAS Profile: Johnston, FH
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