Cardiorespiratory health impacts of wildfire smoke in Alaska
Abstract
Although the ecological effects of wildfire on the Alaskan landscape have received some attention in the research community, the health impacts of wildfires in the state remain unexplored. We estimated cardiorespiratory morbidity associated with wildfire smoke (WFS) PM2.5 in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and the Matanuska-Susitna Valley during the 2015-2019 wildfire seasons using Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation air quality monitors and hospitalization records from the Alaska Health Facilities Data Reporting Program. To estimate WFS PM2.5, we subtracted the long-term, local seasonal-average PM2.5 from the local daily estimated PM2.5 if smoke was identified in the atmospheric column for that day (identified using satellite-based smoke plume estimates from NOAA's Hazard Mapping System) and the 24-hour PM2.5 was >1 SD above the seasonal average. We implemented time-stratified case-crossover analyses to estimate the effect of a 10 µg/m3 increase in WFS PM2.5 with cardiorespiratory hospitalizations using ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes. We investigated same day associations and associations over five days prior using single and distributed lag models. Single lag models demonstrated that a 10 µg/m3 increase in WFS PM2.5 was associated with asthma on the day of exposure (Day 0 OR: 1.13, 95% CI: 1.10 - 1.16) and up to four days prior to hospital admission. Distributed lag models show that WFS PM2.5 was associated with asthma at lag days 0 and 1 (Day 0 OR: 1.11, 95% CI: 1.10 - 1.14; Day 1 lag OR: 1.04, 95% CI: 1.03 - 1.05). Additionally, WFS PM2.5 was associated with all respiratory hospitalizations at lag day 0 and all cardiorespiratory hospitalizations at lag days 0 and 3. Stratified analysis show that among Alaskan Natives, WFS PM2.5 was associated with elevated cardiovascular hospitalizations at lag days 2 through 5. Elevated odds of cardiovascular hospitalizations were not observed among non-Alaskan Natives. Our findings support the association between WFS PM2.5 and cardiorespiratory morbidity and show that recent wildfires in Alaska had a substantial impact on public health. This suggests that future wildfire response efforts in Alaska should include information about how to limit wildfire smoke exposure, targeting major population centers in the state and specifically, Alaskan Native populations.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AGUFMNH026..01H
- Keywords:
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- 3360 Remote sensing;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES;
- 0240 Public health;
- GEOHEALTH;
- 4328 Risk;
- NATURAL HAZARDS;
- 4332 Disaster resilience;
- NATURAL HAZARDS