New research published today shows a strong link between smoke from bushfires and an increase in Perth hospital admissions for heart and lung problems, highlighting the health dangers posed by fine particulate matter (PM2.5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The study analysed more than half a million hospital admissions from 2015 to 2017, using a detailed smoke exposure model to track PM2.5 levels in Perth and found that older adults, children and people from disadvantaged areas were at higher risk of hospitalisation due to bushfire smoke. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Key Findings:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The lead scientific investigator and study author, Associate Professor Adeleh Shirangi from Curtin\u2019s School of Population Health, said particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns, known as PM2.5, is a major health concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese tiny particles can be inhaled into the lungs and even enter the bloodstream,\u201d Associate Professor Shirangi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur study showed that people living in lower socioeconomic areas were more significantly affected by elevated PM2.5 levels, with higher rates of hospital admissions for both respiratory and cardiovascular conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The study found a 154 per cent increase in angina admissions and a 12 per cent increase in heart failure admissions among disadvantaged groups following high bushfire smoke exposure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Associate Professor Shirangi said the findings underscore the need for effective public health strategies to protect high-risk groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAustralians are frequently exposed to pollutants from bushfires, and smoke is the leading cause of increased fine particulate matter levels in Perth,\u201d Associate Professor Shirangi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs climate change leads to more frequent and intense wildfires, understanding and mitigating the health impacts becomes increasingly critical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUsing air filters and masks can help reduce exposure to harmful smoke, and monitoring air quality alerts during the bushfire season could help hospitals better prepare for patient surges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Information on smoke hazards from bushfires is available on the Department of Health\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This study is part of a broader research project which is a collaborative effort between the WA Department of Health, Â鶹ֱ²¥, Murdoch University, the University of Western Australia, the University of Tasmania, and the Western Australian Bureau of Meteorology, as well as NGIS who provided spatial technology data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The WA Department of Health and FrontierSI funded this study. The full paper, titled \u2018Impact of elevated fine particulate matter PM2.5<\/sub> during landscape fire events on cardio-respiratory hospital admissions in Perth, Western Australia\u2019<\/em>, published by BMJ Group, in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (JECH), is available online here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New research published today shows a strong link between smoke from bushfires and an increase […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4457,"featured_media":25556,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"4937,4997,6257,8447,7800,8465","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,35],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-25555","media-release","type-media-release","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-public-health"],"acf":{"experts":false,"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":[{"title":"","qualification":"","link":"","description":"","faculty":""}],"credits":{"author":"","photographer":"","media":[22646,24381]},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/146-1000x500.jpg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Sam","last_name":"Jeremic","display_name":"Samuel Jeremic"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/25555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/media-release"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/25555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25555"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=25555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n