Wildfire Smoke Contributed to a Rise in Asthma Related Hospital Visits

Tuesday, August 29th, 2023 -- 10:00 AM

(CNN) Wildfires in Canada that caused smoke to blanket parts of the United States in recent months were linked to a significant rise in emergency hospital visits related to asthma.

Emergency department visits for asthma in the United States were 17% higher than expected when wildfire smoke occurred, according to a new study published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

From April through August, smoke originating from wildfires in Canada affected most of the neighboring regions of the United States. During that time, millions of people in the US were under air quality alerts as smoke swept through the Midwest and East Coast.

The study’s researchers, from CDC and other US institutions, analyzed data from the National Syndromic Surveillance Program on the numbers and percentages of asthma-related emergency department visits that occurred in the United States on days with wildfire smoke compared with days without wildfire smoke during April 30 to August 4.

Wildfire smoke days were those when concentrations of particulate matter, a mix of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air that are generally 2.5 micrometers in diameter or smaller, triggered an Air Quality Index of 101 or higher, meaning the air quality was considered “unhealthy” for people with sensitivities.

The Air Quality Index is the US Environmental Protection Agency’s index for reporting air quality. The researchers found that asthma-related emergency department visits were 17% higher than expected during the 19 days in the data when wildfire smoke occurred in the US.

When the researchers analyzed the data across various regions of the country, they found that the region encompassing Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia experienced five wildfire smoke days, the highest total amount for any region.

New Jersey and New York, as well as parts of the Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin) experienced a total of four wildfire smoke event days. New Jersey and New York experienced the largest increase in asthma-associated emergency department visits, the researchers found.

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