Heat and wildfire smoke are even more harmful when combined, a study says
In California, days that experienced both extreme heat and wildfire smoke at the same time have seen disproportionate numbers of hospitalizations for heart and lung ailments, a new study found. The research highlights the public health dangers of distinct climate threats that can have a compound effect when they occur simultaneously.
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Both hazards are harmful to health on their own: Heat stress increases cardiac strain, and inhaling wildfire smoke can aggravate lung conditions. The new study, led by researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, looked at the health effects when the two threats appeared in tandem.
On exceptionally hot and smoky days, staying indoors doesn’t always help, and certainly not for people who don’t have air-conditioners and air purifiers, said Tarik Benmarhnia, an environmental epidemiologist at Scripps and one of the study’s authors. “Air pollution doesn’t stay politely outside,” he said. “It gets inside, interacts with a lot of indoor air pollutants and can lead to a lot of issues.”
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