What question did this study set out to answer?

To evaluate the short-term associations between exposure to wildfire-specific fine particulate matter and respiratory hospitalizations across multiple countries.

April 8, 2025Nature SustainabilityOpen Access

Respiratory risks from wildfire-specific PM2.5 across multiple countries and territories

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Authors

YZYiwen ZhangHarvard University RXRongbin XuChongqing University WHWenzhong HuangAustralian Regenerative Medicine Institute

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Implication

Multicountry observational study reveals increased respiratory hospitalizations from wildfire fine particulate matter, indicating urgent needs for targeted public health mitigation.

Key Points

To evaluate the short-term associations between exposure to wildfire-specific fine particulate matter and respiratory hospitalizations across multiple countries.
Conducted a multicountry time-series study evaluating the short-term effects of wildfire-specific PM2.5 across 1,052 communities in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, New Zealand, Vietnam, Thailand, and Taiwan from 2000 to 2019.
Assessed hospital admissions for all-cause respiratory diseases as well as cause-specific outcomes including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), acute upper respiratory infections, influenza, and pneumonia.
Each 1 µg m⁻³ increase in wildfire-specific PM2.5 was associated with increased hospitalization risks of 0.36% for all-cause respiratory disease, 0.48% for asthma, 0.38% for COPD, 0.42% for acute upper respiratory infection, 0.79% for influenza, and 0.36% for pneumonia.
Higher relative risks were observed among populations ≤19 or ≥60 years of age, in low-income or high non-wildfire PM2.5 communities, and within Brazil, Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
Wildfire-specific PM2.5 conferred higher respiratory hospitalization risks than non-wildfire PM2.5 and contributed to 42.4% of all PM2.5-linked respiratory hospitalizations.

Cite This Study

Zhang et al. (2025) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a090c5474a93f402dd3a4aa https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01533-9

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Implication

Multicountry observational study reveals increased respiratory hospitalizations from wildfire fine particulate matter, indicating urgent needs for targeted public health mitigation.

Respiratory risks from wildfire-specific PM2.5 across multiple countries and territories

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Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Respiratory risks from wildfire-specific PM2.5 across multiple countries and territories

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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