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Long-Term Health Impacts of Wildfire Exposure: A Retrospective Study Exploring Hospitalization Dynamics Following the 2016 Wave of Fires in Israel

Background: Climate-related events, including wildfires, which adversely affect human health, are gaining the growing attention of public-health officials and researchers. Israel has experienced several disastrous fires, including the wave of fires in November 2016 that led to the evacuation of 75,0...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Cohen, Odeya, Shapira, Stav, Furman, Eyal
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9099700/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35564404
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095012
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author Cohen, Odeya
Shapira, Stav
Furman, Eyal
author_facet Cohen, Odeya
Shapira, Stav
Furman, Eyal
author_sort Cohen, Odeya
collection PubMed
description Background: Climate-related events, including wildfires, which adversely affect human health, are gaining the growing attention of public-health officials and researchers. Israel has experienced several disastrous fires, including the wave of fires in November 2016 that led to the evacuation of 75,000 people. The fires lasted six days (22–27 November) with no loss of life or significant immediate health impacts. The objective of this study is to explore the long-term hospitalization dynamics in a population exposed to this large-scale fire, including the effects of underlying morbidity and socio-economic status (SES). Methods: This is a retrospective crossover study, conducted in 2020, analyzing the electronic medical records of residents from areas exposed to a wildfire in northern Israel. The study spans from one year before exposure to two years after it (22 November 2015–27 November 2018). The hospitalization days during the study period were analyzed using the Poisson regression model. The rate of hospitalization days along with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were plotted. Results: The study included 106,595 participants. The median age was 37 (IQR = 17–56), with a mean socio-economic ranking of 6.47 out of 10 (SD = 2.01). Analysis revealed that people with underlying morbidity were at greater risk of experiencing long-term effects following fires, which was manifested in higher hospitalization rates that remained elevated for two years post-exposure. This was also evident among individuals of low socio-economic status without these background illnesses. Conclusions: Healthcare services should prepare for increased hospitalization rates during the two years following wildfires for populations with underlying morbidity and those of low socio-economic status. Implementing preventive-medicine approaches may increase the resiliency of communities in the face of extreme climate-related events and prevent future health burdens. Additional research should focus on the specific mechanisms underpinning the long-term effects of wildfire exposure.
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spelling pubmed-90997002022-05-14 Long-Term Health Impacts of Wildfire Exposure: A Retrospective Study Exploring Hospitalization Dynamics Following the 2016 Wave of Fires in Israel Cohen, Odeya Shapira, Stav Furman, Eyal Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Background: Climate-related events, including wildfires, which adversely affect human health, are gaining the growing attention of public-health officials and researchers. Israel has experienced several disastrous fires, including the wave of fires in November 2016 that led to the evacuation of 75,000 people. The fires lasted six days (22–27 November) with no loss of life or significant immediate health impacts. The objective of this study is to explore the long-term hospitalization dynamics in a population exposed to this large-scale fire, including the effects of underlying morbidity and socio-economic status (SES). Methods: This is a retrospective crossover study, conducted in 2020, analyzing the electronic medical records of residents from areas exposed to a wildfire in northern Israel. The study spans from one year before exposure to two years after it (22 November 2015–27 November 2018). The hospitalization days during the study period were analyzed using the Poisson regression model. The rate of hospitalization days along with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were plotted. Results: The study included 106,595 participants. The median age was 37 (IQR = 17–56), with a mean socio-economic ranking of 6.47 out of 10 (SD = 2.01). Analysis revealed that people with underlying morbidity were at greater risk of experiencing long-term effects following fires, which was manifested in higher hospitalization rates that remained elevated for two years post-exposure. This was also evident among individuals of low socio-economic status without these background illnesses. Conclusions: Healthcare services should prepare for increased hospitalization rates during the two years following wildfires for populations with underlying morbidity and those of low socio-economic status. Implementing preventive-medicine approaches may increase the resiliency of communities in the face of extreme climate-related events and prevent future health burdens. Additional research should focus on the specific mechanisms underpinning the long-term effects of wildfire exposure. MDPI 2022-04-20 /pmc/articles/PMC9099700/ /pubmed/35564404 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095012 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Cohen, Odeya
Shapira, Stav
Furman, Eyal
Long-Term Health Impacts of Wildfire Exposure: A Retrospective Study Exploring Hospitalization Dynamics Following the 2016 Wave of Fires in Israel
title Long-Term Health Impacts of Wildfire Exposure: A Retrospective Study Exploring Hospitalization Dynamics Following the 2016 Wave of Fires in Israel
title_full Long-Term Health Impacts of Wildfire Exposure: A Retrospective Study Exploring Hospitalization Dynamics Following the 2016 Wave of Fires in Israel
title_fullStr Long-Term Health Impacts of Wildfire Exposure: A Retrospective Study Exploring Hospitalization Dynamics Following the 2016 Wave of Fires in Israel
title_full_unstemmed Long-Term Health Impacts of Wildfire Exposure: A Retrospective Study Exploring Hospitalization Dynamics Following the 2016 Wave of Fires in Israel
title_short Long-Term Health Impacts of Wildfire Exposure: A Retrospective Study Exploring Hospitalization Dynamics Following the 2016 Wave of Fires in Israel
title_sort long-term health impacts of wildfire exposure: a retrospective study exploring hospitalization dynamics following the 2016 wave of fires in israel
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9099700/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35564404
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095012
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AT furmaneyal longtermhealthimpactsofwildfireexposurearetrospectivestudyexploringhospitalizationdynamicsfollowingthe2016waveoffiresinisrael