title: Wildfire-specific Fine Particulate Matter and Risk of Hospital Admissions in Urban and Rural Counties.
abstract: The health impacts of wildfire smoke, including fine particles (PM2.5), are not well understood and may differ from those of PM2.5 from other sources due to differences in concentrations and chemical composition.
  
  
  
  First, for the entire Western United States (561 counties) for 2004-2009, we estimated daily PM2.5 concentrations directly attributable to wildfires (wildfires-specific PM2.5), using a global chemical transport model. Second, we defined smoke wave as ≥2 consecutive days with daily wildfire-specific PM2.5 > 20 μg/m, with sensitivity analysis considering 23, 28, and 37 μg/m. Third, we estimated the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory hospital admissions associated with smoke waves for Medicare enrollees. We used a generalized linear mixed model to estimate the relative risk of hospital admissions on smoke wave days compared with matched comparison days without wildfire smoke.
  
  
  
  We estimated that about 46 million people of all ages were exposed to at least one smoke wave during 2004 to 2009 in the Western United States. Of these, 5 million are Medicare enrollees (≥65 years). We found a 7.2% (95% confidence interval: 0.25%, 15%) increase in risk of respiratory admissions during smoke wave days with high wildfire-specific PM2.5 (>37 μg/m) compared with matched non smoke wave days. We did not observe an association between smoke wave days with wildfire-specific PM2.5 ≤ 37 μg/mand respiratory or cardiovascular admissions. Respiratory effects of wildfire-specific PM2.5 may be stronger than that of PM2.5 from other sources.
  
  
  
  Short-term exposure to wildfire-specific PM2.5was associated with risk of respiratory diseases in the elderly population in the Western United States during severe smoke days. See video abstract at, http://links.lww.com/EDE/B137.
authors.affiliation: From the aSchool of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT; bDepartment of Biostatistics, T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; cSchool of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; dDepartment of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD; and eDepartment of Environmental & Radiological Health Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO.
authors.forename: Jia Coco
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Ander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Loretta J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Mickley
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dominici
authors.forename: Keita
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ebisu
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Melissa P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Sulprizio
authors.forename: Roger D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yue
authors.forename: Ji-Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Son
authors.forename: G Brooke
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Michelle L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Bell
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D006278:Medicare; D015146:Midwestern United States; D015205:Northwestern United States; D052638:Particulate Matter; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012906:Smoke; D015206:Southwestern United States; D014481:United States; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014887:Weather; D000075923:Wildfires / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D052638:Particulate Matter; D012906:Smoke