Spatial Heterogeneity of the Respiratory Health Impacts of Wildfire Smoke PM_2.5 in California.

ABSTRACT: Wildfire smoke fine particles (PM_2.5) are a growing public health threat as wildfire events become more common and intense under climate change, especially in the Western United States. Studies assessing the association between wildfire PM_2.5 exposure and health typically summarize the effects over the study area. However, health responses to wildfire PM_2.5 may vary spatially. We evaluated spatially-varying respiratory acute care utilization risks associated with short-term exposure to wildfire PM_2.5 and explored community characteristics possibly driving spatial heterogeneity. Using ensemble-modeled daily wildfire PM_2.5, we defined a wildfire smoke day to have wildfire-specific PM_2.5 concentration ≥15 μg/m³. We i

SUBMITTER: Do V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10978801 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature