Long-term impact of PM2.5 on mortality is exacerbated when wildfire events occur

Abstract

There is extensive evidence that long-term exposure to all-source PM2.5 increases mortality. However, to date, no study has evaluated whether this effect is exacerbated in the presence of wildfire events. Here, we study 60+ million older US adults and find that wildfire events increase the harmful effects of long-term all-source PM2.5 exposure on mortality, providing a new and realistic conceptualization of wildfire health risks.