Published ahead of print on August 31, 2006, doi:10.1164/rccm.200604-519OC Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Volume 174, Number 11, December 2006, 1221-1228 A more recent version of this article appeared on December 1, 2006
Submitted on April 12, 2006 Health Effects of the 2003 Southern California Wildfire on ChildrenNino Kuenzli1*,1 Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA; Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL), ICREA and Institut Municipal d'Investigacio Medica (IMIM), Barcelona, Spain, 2 Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA, 3 School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA, 4 Sonoma Technology, Incorporated, Petaluma, California, USA * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kuenzli{at}imim.es.
Rationale: In late October 2003, Southern California wildfires burned >3,000 km2. The wildfires produced heavy smoke that affected several communities participating in the University of Southern California Children's Health Study (CHS). Objectives: To study the acute effects of fire smoke on the health of CHS participants. Methods: A questionnaire was used to assess smoke exposure and occurrence of symptoms among CHS high-school students (N=873; age 17-18 years) and elementary-school children (N=5,551; age 6-7 years), in a total of 16 communities. Estimates of particulate matter (PM10) concentrations during the five days with the highest fire activity were used to characterize community smoke level. Main Results: All symptoms (nose, eyes, and throat irritations, cough, bronchitis, cold, wheezing, asthma attacks), medication usage, and doctors' visits were associated with individually reported exposure differences within communities. Risks increased monotonically with the number of reported smoky days. For most outcomes, reporting rates between communities were also associated with the fire-related PM10 levels. Associations tended to be strongest among those without asthma. Asthmatics were more likely to take preventive action such as wearing masks or staying indoors during the fire. Conclusions: Exposure to wildfire smoke was associated with increased eye and respiratory symptoms, medication use and physician visits. Key words: air pollution, asthma, wheezing, sore throat
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