A study showed that people who had lung cancer surgery and then faced a wildfire within a year had a lower chance of living.
This research involved almost 500,000 people who had this surgery between 2004 and 2019. Out of them, around 168,000 faced wildfires in their area within a year after their hospital stay.
The results were alarming. If someone faced a wildfire within three months of their surgery, they had a 48% lower chance to live.
The risk decreased slightly if the wildfire was 4-6 months or 7-12 months after surgery, but the danger was still there.
The Impact: More Than Just Smoke
Yang Liu, a top expert from Emory University, pointed out that wildfires affect health in many ways. There’s the danger from the smoke, which is harmful to breathe.
But wildfires also bring stress, property loss, money problems, and trauma. Fires in the eastern U.S. are also worrying because they’re often closer to where people live.
Lung cancer is a big health issue in the U.S., being the second most common cancer and the top cause of death from cancer. Bad air quality from things like wildfire smoke makes it even harder for lung cancer patients to survive.
Leticia Nogueira from the American Cancer Society explained that recovering from lung cancer surgery is tough.
Patients face physical issues, stress, anxiety, money problems, and more. Wildfires add to these challenges, making it harder for patients to handle an approaching fire.
Wildfires bring many health problems, not just bad air. There’s also polluted water and soil, stress, mental health issues, and problems accessing health care.
Nogueira mentioned the stress from the threat to homes and lives, the money needed to evacuate or stay safe, and the dangers from dirty water and dust.
Cancer patients already have a lot on their plate, and wildfires add even more problems.
The Future: More Wildfires and Health Risks
The situation is getting worse because of climate change. Yang Liu warned that areas in western North America will become drier and hotter.
This means longer and more dangerous fire seasons. Fires will happen more often and burn more fiercely.
If you care about lung health, please read studies about why Viagra may be useful in treating lung diseases, and scientists find herbal supplements to treat lung cancer.
For more information about health, please see recent studies about gum disease linked to impaired lung function, and results showing COVID-19 is not just a respiratory illness, it can cause strokes too.
The study was published in JAMA Oncology.
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