Background: Climate change may increase the frequency and severity of forest and wild fires in many parts of the world. Better understanding of the human health impacts of the resulting air pollution has important public health implications for the future and the present day. Aims: We reviewed and summarized the published literature concerning the human health impacts from wildfires. Method: We performed a systematic search on Pubmed and Scopus to identify peer-reviewed scientific studies in English regarding health impacts of wildfire smoke in exposed communities. Results: We identified 54 epidemiological studies in affected communities. The most commonly used methods for assessing exposure is obtaining air pollutant data from air monitors (59.3% of the studies). The most commonly used methods to assess health outcomes is using data from governmental agencies or statistical bureaus (48.1% of the papers). Thirty-eight studies investigated respiratory health, and 86.84% of them found that wildfire events can significantly increase the risk of respiratory disease. Twelve examined wildfire impact on mortality, among which 75% found a significant increase in mortality after wildfire events. Relatively few studies attempted to connect cardiovascular disease and wildfires. Children, the elderly and those with underlying chronic diseases appear most susceptible and should be the priority of public health programs. Conclusions:Air pollution from wildfires under changing climate can increase the risk of respiratory disease, mortality, and possibly cardiovascular disease among people from affected communities. Current literature on fire and health is limited and suffers from limitations. Future work with large-scale research, employment of satellite images and simulation models, vulnerability assessment, and long-term projections could help evaluate the public health impacts of climate change and guide mitigation policies.
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