People living with asthma can take steps to rid their lives of the factors that can lead to the narrowing and inflammation of the airways.
Dust, cigarette smoke, pet hair and chemicals from household cleaning products are all responsible for causing attacks, although not everyone’s triggers are the same.
But imagine if the cause of your asthma attack is something that can’t be avoided and is completely out of your control.
A study carried out by researchers from British Columbia Centre for Disease Control and University of British Columbia revealed that forest fires are having an impact on the health of people living with asthma and other chronic obstructive lung diseases.
In British Columbia nearly 1,000km2 trees are destroyed every year in forest fires and the ministry of environment monitors the levels of particle matter in the air caused by the fires.
While it is easy to monitor these levels, it can be much more difficult to measure the impact on people’s health, unless they require hospital treatment.
Researchers looked at the records of pharmacies and dispensaries to measure the increase in the use of drugs needed to treat the symptoms associated with the increased levels of pollution.
They looked at the increase in the use of medications typically used in an inhaler to relieve symptoms of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other obstructive lung diseases.
The results of the study showed that, for up to four days after a forest fire, there was an increased need for this medication. Even the smallest increase in smoke led to an increase in the need for the drugs.