According to a study | Forest fire smoke increases emergency visits for asthma cases

(Toronto) A new study revealed that emergency visits to asthma cases had increased during the first wave of forest fire in 2023, but that their number had returned to normal in a second wave, which occurred a few weeks later.

According to the researchers, this first wave could have served as a alarm signal, encouraging the population to adopt protective measures against poor air quality before smoke reappears.

The D^r Hong Chen, the main author of the study, suggests that some patients may have received preventive drugs to better control their asthma, while preparing for the second wave by staying inside and using air purifiers.

The researchers analyzed the emergency visits data in Ontario in June 2023, a period marked by the worst season of forest fire ever recorded in the province.

The study, published Monday in the Journal of the Canadian Medical Associationit seems that the forest fire season has already started in British Columbia.

In a commentary accompanying the study, Sarah Henderson, of the British Columbia Headquarters Control Center, stresses that smoke from forest fires is now a persistent reality and calls Canada to establish internal air quality standards to better protect the population.