Are wildfires and pneumonia spatially and temporally related?

Abstract

The global incidence of Pneumonia has increased along the past decade, being the leading cause of death and hospital admissions in Portugal, following the global trend, as described by the World Health Organization. Several studies have emerged trying to study how the consequences of wild- fires, namely in what concerns to the generated smoke, can influence and poten- tiate the emergence of respiratory infections, namely pneumonia. Wildfires are common phenomenon in warmer climates such as Portugal and may have dev- astating effects, which can get worst with the verified climate changes. As wood smoke contains tiny particles and gases that can have serious effects when breathed, this paper presents a study of the influence of wildfires smoke on the health of the Portuguese population from 2002 to 2011, namely in what concerns to the influence of respiratory infections like pneumonia. In this dec- ade, a total of 369 160 patients were assisted in hospitals as consequence of pneumonia and a total of 338 109 wildfires were registered, being the corresponding data analyzed with the help of a Business Intelligence system implemented for the integration, storage and analysis of the available data. The obtained results showed the emergence of a strong correlation in space and time between these two events in specific municipalities.