Soda consumption and hospital admissions among Californian adults with asthma.

INTRODUCTION: Asthma prevalence has been increasing consistently since 1995 in California. Recent studies have found that consuming soda and sugar-containing drinks may pose a risk for asthma. Research that examines the relationship between soda intake and asthma among adult asthmatics is limited. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the relationship between sugar-sweetened soda consumption and asthma hospitalization among adult asthmatics in California. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was based on the 2011-2012 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) data and included 3,784 adults who were diagnosed with asthma by a doctor and who currently reported either that they still had asthma, or that they had suffered from an asthma attack in the last 12 months. The analysis was survey weighted. The exposure variable was soda intake measured as the number of times soda was consumed in the last week. The health outcome measure was overnight hospital admission due to asthma. Logistic regression was used to examine the association between soda consumption and overnight hospital admission after adjusting for age, education, sex, race/ethnicity, weight status, smoking status, and self-rated health. RESULTS: Adults with asthma who drank soda three or more times per week reported higher odds of overnight hospitalization (adjusted odds ratio = 2.77, 95% CI: 1.51-5.10, p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that efforts designed to limit soda consumption would benefit asthma suffers by reducing hospital admissions. This, however, needs further research to confirm a direct causal association.

Using National Ambient Air Quality Standards for fine particulate matter to assess regional wildland fire smoke and air quality management.

Wildland fire is an important ecological process in the California Sierra Nevada. Personal accounts from pre-20th century describe a much smokier environment than present day. The policy of suppression beginning in the early 20th century and climate change are contributing to increased megafires. We use a single particulate monitoring site at the wildland urban interface to explore impacts from prescribed, managed, and full suppression wildland fires from 2006 to 2015 producing a contextual assessment of smoke impacts over time at the landscape level. Prescribed fire had little effect on local fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air quality with readings typical of similar non-fire times; hourly and daily good to moderate Air Quality Index (AQI) for PM2.5, maximum hourly concentrations 21-103 µg m-3, and mean concentrations between 7.7 and 13.2 µg m-3. Hourly and daily AQI was typically good or moderate during managed fires with 3 h and one day reaching unhealthy while the site remained below National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), with maximum hourly concentrations 27-244 µg m-3, and mean concentrations 6.7-11.7 µg m-3. The large high intensity fire in this area created the highest short term impacts (AQI unhealthy for 4 h and very unhealthy for 1 h), 11 unhealthy for sensitive days, and produced the only annual value (43.9 µg m-3) over the NAAQS 98th percentile for PM2.5 (35 µg m-3). Pinehurst remained below the federal standards for PM2.5 when wildland fire in the local area was managed to 7800 ha (8-22% of the historic burn area). Considering air quality impacts from smoke using the NAAQS at a landscape level over time can give land and air managers a metric for broader evaluation of smoke impacts particularly when assessing ecologically beneficial fire. Allowing managers to control the amount and timing of individual wildland fire emissions can help lessen large smoke impacts to public health from a megafire.

Air-Quality Impacts and Intake Fraction of PM2.5 during the 2013 Rim Megafire.

The 2013 Rim Fire was the third largest wildfire in California history and burned 257 314 acres in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We evaluated air-quality impacts of PM2.5 from smoke from the Rim Fire on receptor areas in California and Nevada. We employed two approaches to examine the air-quality impacts: (1) an evaluation of PM2.5 concentration data collected by temporary and permanent air-monitoring sites and (2) an estimation of intake fraction (iF) of PM2.5 from smoke. The Rim Fire impacted locations in the central Sierra nearest to the fire and extended to the northern Sierra Nevada Mountains of California and Nevada monitoring sites. Daily 24-h average PM2.5 concentrations measured at 22 air monitors had an average concentration of 20 µg/m3 and ranged from 0 to 450 µg/m3. The iF for PM2.5 from smoke during the active fire period was 7.4 per million, which is slightly higher than representative iF values for PM2.5 in rural areas and much lower than for urban areas. This study is a unique application of intake fraction to examine emissions-to-exposure for wildfires and emphasizes that air-quality impacts are not only localized to communities near large fires but can extend long distances and affect larger urban areas.

Wildland fire management and air quality in the southern Sierra Nevada: using the Lion Fire as a case study with a multi-year perspective on PM(2.5) impacts and fire policy.

Management of fire is an important and controversial policy issue. Active fire suppression has led to a backlog of fuels, limited the ecological benefits of fire, and reduced short-term smoke impacts likely delaying these emissions to future generations over a larger spatial extent. Smoke impacts can be expected to increase as fire size and intensity increase and the fuel backlog is consumed; whether through reintroduction of fire under desirable conditions or through stand replacing fire. Land Management Agencies would like to increase the use of naturally ignited fires to burn during favorable conditions as a way to reduce catastrophic fires. This study provides information about the levels of air quality impacts expected from these types of fires and discusses some of the policy controversies of managed fire that propagate inconsistencies between agencies and enter the public discourse. The Lion Fire, a primarily low intensity 8,370 ha fire that was extensively monitored for Particulate Matter less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5), is used to quantify impacts to air quality. PM2.5 monitoring sites are used to assess exposure, public health impacts, and subsequently quantify annual air quality during a year with a fire that is within the historic normal fire size and intensity for this area. Ground level PM2.5 impacts were found to be localized with 99% of the hourly Air Quality Index readings in the moderate or good category for the sites impacted by the fire. PM2.5 concentrations at sites nearest the fire were below annual federal air quality standards for PM2.5 with annual 98th percentile at the most impacted sites (Johnsondale, Kernville, and Camp Nelson) of 35.0, 34.0, and 28.0 µg m(-3) respectively. Smoke impacts to PM2.5 concentrations were not found to reach the populated Central Valley. The findings suggest that this type of fire can be implemented with minimal public health impacts thus allowing an opportunity for air and fire managers to alter policy to allow additional burning in an area with severe anthropogenic air pollution and where frequent widespread fire is both beneficial and inevitable. The more extensive air quality impacts documented with large high intensity fire may be averted by embracing the use of fire to prevent unwanted high intensity burns. A widespread increase in the use of fire for ecological benefit may provide the resiliency needed in Sierra Nevada forests as well as be the most beneficial to public health through the reduction of single dose exposure to smoke and limiting impacts spatially.

Understanding Public Views about Air Quality and Air Pollution Sources in the San Joaquin Valley, California.

The San Joaquin Valley of California has poor air quality and high rates of asthma. Surveys were collected from 744 residents of the San Joaquin Valley from November 2014 to January 2015 to examine the public's views about air quality. The results of this study suggest that participants exposed to high PM2.5 (particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in size) concentrations perceived air pollution to be of the worst quality. Air quality in the San Joaquin Valley was primarily perceived as either moderate or unhealthy for sensitive groups. Females perceived air pollution to be of worse quality compared to males. Participants perceived unemployment, crime, and obesity to be the top three most serious community problems in the San Joaquin Valley. Participants viewed cars and trucks, windblown dust, and factories as the principle contributors to air pollution in the area. There is a need to continue studying public perceptions of air quality in the San Joaquin Valley with a more robust survey with more participants over several years and seasons.