Measures of forest fire smoke exposure and their associations with respiratory health outcomes

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Exposure to forest fire smoke is episodic, which makes its health effects challenging to study. We review the newest contributions to a growing literature on acute respiratory outcomes. RECENT FINDINGS: Smoke exposure was associated with increases in self-reported symptoms, medication use, outpatient physician visits, emergency room visits, hospital admissions, and mortality. The associations were strongest for the outcomes most specific to asthma. SUMMARY: Studies with varied approaches to exposure assessment and varied measures of respiratory outcomes were consistent among themselves, and consistent with most previous work.