New study links increased asthma with bushfires
A Darwin study has linked increased cases of asthma with nearby bushfire activity.
Published in the latest issue of the Medical Journal of Australia, the study by led the Darwin-based Menzies School of Health Research recommends additional measures be implemented to control smoke pollution from bushfires near urban areas.
The study monitored daily presentations for asthma to the Emergency Department of the Royal Darwin Hospital between April and October 2000, a period of almost continuous bushfire activity in nearby bushland.
The total number of presentations with asthma during the seven month study was 265, with an average of 1.2 per day, or 8.5 presentations per week.
The study found that asthma presentations increased significantly (by nearly 2.4 times) on days when concentrations of particles in the air exceeded 40 :g per cubic metre, compared with days when the levels were less than 10 :g per cubic metre.
Air quality was measured at two locations in Darwin to assess the concentration of particles in the air. The study found there were two peaks in the concentration of air particles, the first in May 2000 and the second in September 2000. The National Environment Protection Council (NEPC) maximum target concentration levels were exceeded on a total of six days.
One of the study's authors and Public Health Physician at the Menzies School of Health Research, Dr Fay Johnston, said Darwin was an ideal location for the research because the 'dry' season in the Northern Territory was predictable, there was minimal rainfall, no significant source of air pollution other than bushfires, and it was a relatively small population served by a single major hospital.
An editorial in the same issue of the journal by the Director of the Central Coast Public Health Unit at Gosford, Dr Peter Lewis, has called for more research into the risks of asthma from bushfire smoke.
"The immediate health effects of bushfire smoke are well known to Australia's volunteer firefighters, who willingly fight bushfires each summer with no remuneration and at considerable personal risk," Dr Lewis said.
"However, the population health impacts of pollution associated with large bushfires or "backburning" operations (prescribed burning to reduce the fuel load and the intensity of future bushfires) are less well defined, but are a matter of concern for emergency, environmental and public health agencies.
"Better information about these effects will result in more appropriate risk management," he said.
The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.
CONTACTS: Dr Fay Johnston
- Phone: (08) 8948 2628 (B/H + A/H)
(0439) 868 032 (A/H)
Dr Peter Lewis
Phone: (02) 4349 4860 (B/H)
- (02) 4320 2111 (A/H) c/- Gosford Hospital Switch
Sarah Crichton, AMA Public Affairs
Phone: (0419) 440 076