Wildfire Smoke Flooded ERs With Asthma Cases [Video]

Key Takeaways

Asthma attacks flooded Canadian ERs during the 2023 wildfiresER visits related to asthma increased by up to 24% daily in early June 2023A second smoke wave later that month did not have the same impact

MONDAY, May 5, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Asthma attacks caused emergency room surges during the 2023 Canadian wildfires, with smoke-filled air sending hundreds to the hospital daily, a new study says.

Daily asthma-related visits to Ontario hospitals increased nearly 24% during an early-June 2023 wildfire that blanketed the area with smoke, researchers reported today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

“The unprecedented wildfires of 2023 are a wake-up call that wildfires — a persistent feature of Canada’s landscape — are becoming more intense and prolonged in a changing climate, affecting millions of people,” concluded the research team led by Hong Chen, an assistant professor with the University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

However, a second wave of wildfire …