Scientists have found that wildfire smoke can cause significantly greater harm to the body than vehicle exhaust and industrial emissions, damaging the heart and lungs. A team of researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in the United States found that tiny soot particles from wildfires lead to more hospitalizations and deaths than the same amount of pollutants from other sources. The findings of two large-scale studies were published in Nature Communications and The Lancet Oncology.
The researchers analyzed health data from millions of Americans across 20 states. They found that long-term exposure to wildfire smoke increased the risk of hospitalization for heart failure, asthma, and pneumonia. Particularly concerning results came from a study of 414,016 older adults with lung cancer: although wildfire smoke accounts for only 4% of total particulate pollution exposure, it was responsible for 17% of all deaths associated with exposure to PM2.5 particles.
As senior author Yaguang Wei noted, wildfire smoke is no longer a regional environmental problem but has become a national health threat. According to him, PM2.5 particles from wildfires are considerably more toxic than an equivalent level of air pollution from vehicles or industrial facilities.
PM2.5 particles are a mixture of microscopic solid particles and liquid droplets that can penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream. Such pollutants cause chronic inflammation of blood vessels and can trigger genetic mutations. The new study showed that the chemical composition of wood smoke causes more severe damage to the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. The researchers found that residents of low-income, lower-education urban communities were particularly vulnerable to wildfire smoke, with their health already affected by social inequalities.
The threat posed by wildfires is growing each year due to climate change. Smoke can reach regions located thousands of kilometers from the source of a fire. Scientists emphasize that cancer patients should be particularly careful about air quality and avoid spending time outdoors during periods of heavy smoke, as even short-term exposure to a toxic environment could undermine the benefits of prolonged treatment.
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