The Impact of Prescribed Fire Versus Wildfire on the Immune and Cardiovascular Systems of Children

Details

• Personal Author:
  Haddad F ; Kelsey R ; Lee J ; Nadeau K ; Prunicki M ; Smith E ; Wu J ; Zhou X
• Description:
  The increase in wildfires associated with climate change augments the impact of air pollution on health in many areas of the country. When wildfires occur, there is an increase in asthma attacks and associated comorbidities, especially for asthma hospitalization in ages 0-5 years and more recently, it has been shown that there are increases in cardiovascular events. Given the health risks associated with high-intensity wildfires, there is motivation to increase the use of lower intensity prescribed fires. Prescribed burns decrease the buildup of flammable vegetation and subsequent fuel for wildfires, mitigating the spread and intensity of wildfires. However, prescribed fire raises public concerns because of the additional pollutant exposure. Therefore, our objective is to determine whether there are differential health consequences with a prescribed fire vs wildfire. We focus on children given their reduced lung size, increased metabolic rates, higher respiratory rate, and developing immune systems, and because in macaque monkeys who are exposed to wildfire smoke in infancy, there is associated immune dysregulation and decreased lung function in adolescence. We hypothesize that the health impacts of a prescribed fire are less detrimental to the respiratory and cardiovascular systems than a wildfire in school-aged children and that T-cell skewing and epigenetic modulation will occur with exposure to wildfire more than from exposure to a prescribed fire. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution Asthma Asthma, Occupational Climate Change Fires Immune System Occupational Health Safety Wildfires
• Keywords:
  Air Pollution Cardiovascular System Children Climate Change Health Effects Immune Reaction
• ISSN:
  0105-4538
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  74
• Issue:
  10
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20062647
• Citation:
  Allergy 2019 Oct; 74(10):1989-1991
• Contact Point Address:
  Mary Prunicki, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
• Email:
  prunicki@stanford.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• Performing Organization:
  University of California, Berkeley
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Allergy
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:173d78511c680a8aeeccffb7fbbd8252af0711afe3ebae5ca124caf1a9baff7d5aa1a27bc194b595a2b3b8ab6101490a2b5fa421a8e3845c192ea3893b293ac8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/225852/cdc_225852_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 358.89 KB ]