Heatwaves and Air Pollution: A Deadly Combination

Details

• Personal Author:
  Kinney PL ; Pinkerton KE
• Description:
  Climate change is one of the most pressing health challenges of our time, and the rapid pace of change means we will face growing health risks in the coming decades. Although gradual trends are important for some factors, such as a rise in sea level, human impacts are especially driven by extremes of weather, including heat waves, intense rain events, coastal storms, flooding, draft, and others. These, in turn, can influence a series of downstream impacts, including increases in wildfire frequency and extent, which have adverse health impacts. Indeed, trends of warmer, drier conditions in California have led to a fivefold increase in the area burned by wildfires in California between 1972 and 2018. ... With accelerating climate change and the emergence of wildfires as a significant source of high air pollution episodes, it will be increasingly important to understand and mitigate the human health effects of exposure to degrees of air pollution and temperature. Future research should explore further whether, how, and to what extent wildfire PM2.5 has a distinct toxicity profile as compared with nonwildfire PM2.5 and how those factors are influenced by temperature. Relatedly, we need to understand the mechanisms by which wildfire smoke interacts with and affects the respiratory and cardiovascular systems at higher temperatures. Toxicologic and epidemiologic studies will be needed to both understand mechanistic pathways and potential therapeutic interventions, as well as to quantify population impacts and extend findings to intermediate morbidity outcomes on the pathway to mortality. Because the extreme events studied here were relatively rare events, there is also potential for developing forecast systems that could provide advance warning to patients and care providers of anticipated extreme events. More information will also be needed on effective measures to protect individuals from exposure to extreme climate events, including building air cleaning and conditioning systems. The urgency for further research on these topics will continue to intensify together with further changes in our climate. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution Climate Change Fires Mortality Occupational Health Particulate Matter Safety Temperature Wildfires
• Keywords:
  Air Pollution Climate Change Health Effects Mortality Data Particulates Temperature Effects
• ISSN:
  1073-449X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  206
• Issue:
  9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20067188
• Citation:
  Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2022 Nov; 206(9):1060-1062
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2023
• Performing Organization:
  University of California, Berkeley
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:17a94c8b5191db820b56e75a6278c732559ba1ac35a03f3fe2c2ec4f161cbfe8a485cdc440f2e6ab4ffe45046a8d77b1ec58cc6bb00127dbe6f698496bebb098
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/231327/cdc_231327_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 560.99 KB ]