Wildfire smoke increases emergency room visits for asthma: study
Posted May 5, 2025 3:42 pm.
A new study has found that emergency room visits for asthma increased during the first wave of wildfires in 2023, but returned to normal during a second wave a few weeks later.
The researchers suggest that this first wave may have served as a wake-up call, prompting people to take protective measures against poor air quality before the smoke reappeared.
Dr. Hong Chen, lead author of the study, suggests that some patients may have received preventative medications to better control their asthma, while preparing for the second wave by staying indoors and using air purifiers.
The researchers analyzed data on emergency room visits in Ontario during June 2023, a period marked by the worst wildfire season on record in the province.
The study, published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, comes as the wildfire season has already begun in British Columbia.
In a commentary accompanying the study, Sarah Henderson of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control points out that wildfire smoke is now a persistent reality and calls on Canada to establish indoor air quality standards to better protect the population.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
