The combined risk of death from extreme temperatures and air pollution is more than the sum of their individual effects
Recently, researchers at the University of Southern California set out to answer that question. Their results, based on mortality data from California between 2014 and 2019 and published at the end of June in the, indicate that the combined mortality risk of extreme temperatures and thick pollution is significantly more than the sum of their individual effects.
As the chart below shows, a person’s odds of dying increased 6.1% on extreme temperature days and 5% on extreme pollution days compared with non-extreme days. But on days with both extreme conditions, the risk of death jumped by 21%. Like vehicle emissions, wildfires release PM2.5, a type of very fine particulate matter that measures less than 2.5 micrometers across. While the USC researchers analyzed PM2.5 pollution levels regardless of its source, they found that days with extremely high pollution happened to coincide with California wildfire events.
Fine particulate matter can penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream, says Francesca Dominici, a biostatistics professor at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health who has studied the noxious stuff. But, while PM2.5 is known to cause, some forms of it are worse than others. “Fine particulate matter during wildfires tends to be even more toxic,” Dominici says. “We have buildings burning, we have cars burning, we have all kinds of stuff that is burning.
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