Abstract:
Wildfire smoke (WFS) is a mixture of respirable particulate matter, environmental gases, and other hazardous pollutants that originate from the unplanned burning of arid vegetation during wildfires. The increasing size and frequency of recent wildfires has escalated public and occupational health concerns regarding WFS inhalation, by either individuals living nearby and downstream an active fire or wildland firefighters and other workers that face unavoidable exposure because of their profession. In this review, we first synthesize current evidence from environmental, controlled, and interventional human exposure studies, to highlight positive associations between WFS inhalation and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Motivated by these findings, we discuss preventative measures and suggest interventions to mitigate the cardiovascular impact of wildfires. We then review animal and cell exposure studies to call attention on the pathophysiological processes that support the deterioration of cardiovascular tissues and organs in response to WFS inhalation. Acknowledging the challenges of integrating evidence across independent sources, we contextualize laboratory-scale exposure approaches according to the biological processes that they model and offer suggestions for ensuring relevance to the human condition. Noting that wildfires are significant contributors to ambient air pollution, we compare the biological responses triggered by WFS to those of other harmful pollutants. We also review evidence for how WFS inhalation may trigger mechanisms that have been proposed as mediators of adverse cardiovascular effects upon exposure to air pollution. We finally conclude by highlighting research areas that demand further consideration. Overall, we aspire for this work to serve as a catalyst for regulatory initiatives to mitigate the adverse cardiovascular effects of WFS inhalation in the community and alleviate the occupational risk in wildland firefighters.
摘要:
野火烟雾(WFS)是可吸入颗粒物的混合物,环境气体,和其他有害污染物源自野火期间干旱植被的计划外燃烧。最近野火的规模和频率不断增加,加剧了公众和职业健康方面对WFS吸入的担忧,居住在附近和下游活跃的火灾或野外消防员和其他因职业而面临不可避免的暴露的工人。在这次审查中,我们首先从环境中综合目前的证据,控制,和人体接触的介入研究,强调吸入WFS与心血管疾病发病率和死亡率之间的正相关。基于这些发现,我们讨论了预防措施,并建议采取干预措施,以减轻野火对心血管的影响。然后,我们回顾了动物和细胞暴露研究,以引起人们对支持WFS吸入后心血管组织和器官恶化的病理生理过程的关注。认识到跨独立来源整合证据的挑战,我们根据模拟的生物过程对实验室规模的暴露方法进行情境化,并提供建议以确保与人类状况的相关性。注意到野火是造成环境空气污染的重要因素,我们将WFS引发的生物反应与其他有害污染物的反应进行了比较。我们还审查了有关吸入WFS如何触发机制的证据,这些机制已被提议为暴露于空气污染后对心血管产生不利影响的介体。最后,我们强调了需要进一步考虑的研究领域。总的来说,我们希望这项工作成为监管举措的催化剂,以减轻社区中WFS吸入对心血管的不利影响,并减轻野地消防员的职业风险。