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Did fine particulate matter from the summer 2016 landscape fires in Tasmania increase emergency ambulance dispatches? a case crossover analysis
Citation
Edwards, LJ and Williamson, G and Williams, SA and Veitch, MGK and Salimi, F and Johnston, FH, Did fine particulate matter from the summer 2016 landscape fires in Tasmania increase emergency ambulance dispatches? a case crossover analysis, Fire, 1, (2) Article 26. ISSN 2571-6255 (2018) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2018 the Authors. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Abstract
During summer in early 2016, over 70 landscape fires in Tasmania (Australia) caused several severe episodes of fire smoke across the island state. To assess the health impact of the fire smoke, a case crossover analysis was performed, which measured the association between increased concentrations of PM2.5 and emergency ambulance dispatches (EAD) from 1 January to 31 March 2016. Control days were matched by latitude and longitude, day of the week and calendar month. Exposure data were obtained from air quality monitoring stations at lag times of 1–48 h and for the 24-h mean on the same day and 1-day lag. Positive associations were observed between an increase of 10 µg/m3 in PM2.5 and EAD for stroke on the same day (OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.02–1.19) and at 1-day lag (OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.02–1.18). Furthermore, there were non-significant increases in breathing problems (OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.00–1.08) and diabetic problems (OR 1.11, 95% CI 0.99–1.22) at 1-day lag. The EAD for all causes were not increased. These findings will be used for ambulance service planning and public health risk communication in future landscape fire events.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | smoke, wildfires, ambulance, health, population, particulate matter, landscape fire smoke, emergency ambulance dispatches |
| Research Division: | Agricultural, Veterinary and Food Sciences |
| Research Group: | Forestry sciences |
| Research Field: | Forestry fire management |
| Objective Division: | Health |
| Objective Group: | Public health (excl. specific population health) |
| Objective Field: | Public health (excl. specific population health) not elsewhere classified |
| UTAS Author: | Edwards, LJ (Dr Laura Edwards) |
| UTAS Author: | Williamson, G (Dr Grant Williamson) |
| UTAS Author: | Salimi, F (Dr Farhad Salimi) |
| UTAS Author: | Johnston, FH (Professor Fay Johnston) |
| ID Code: | 127378 |
| Year Published: | 2018 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 5 |
| Deposited By: | Plant Science |
| Deposited On: | 2018-07-25 |
| Last Modified: | 2022-08-29 |
| Downloads: | 96 View Download Statistics |
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