Long-range fine particulate matter from the 2002 Quebec forest fires and daily mortality in Greater Boston and New York City.

ABSTRACT: During July 2002, forest fires in Quebec, Canada, blanketed the US East Coast with a plume of wood smoke. This "natural experiment" exposed large populations in northeastern US cities to significantly elevated concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), providing a unique opportunity to test the association between daily mortality and ambient PM_2.5 levels that are uncorrelated with societal activity rhythms. We obtained PM_2.5 measurement data and mortality data for a 4-week period in July 2002 for the Greater Boston metropolitan area (which has a population of over 1.7 million people) and New York City (which has a population of over 8 million people). Daily average PM_2.5 concentrations were markedly increased for 3 days over this period,

SUBMITTER: Zu K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4837205 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature