Health impacts of wildfire-related air pollution in Brazil: a nationwide study of more than 2 million hospital admissions between 2008 and 2018

We quantified the impacts of wildfire-related PM2.5 on 2 million hospital admissions records due to cardiorespiratory diseases in Brazil between 2008 and 2018. The national analysis shows that wildfire waves are associated with an increase of 23% (95%CI: 12%–33%) in respiratory hospital admissions and an increase of 21% (95%CI: 8%–35%) in circulatory hospital admissions. In the North (where most of the Amazon region is located), we estimate an increase of 38% (95%CI: 30%–47%) in respiratory hospital admissions and 27% (95%CI: 15%–39%) in circulatory hospital admissions. Here we report epidemiological evidence that air pollution emitted by wildfires is significantly associated with a higher risk of cardiorespiratory hospital admissions. Brazil is a wildfire-prone region, and few studies have investigated the health impacts of wildfire exposure. Here, the authors show that wildfire waves are associated with an increase of 23% in respiratory hospital admissions and an increase of 21% in circulatory hospital admissions in Brazil.