b'16Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for OHCA in 14 California counties, MayOctober, 2015-2017, by wildfire smoke exposure on the day of exposure and several following (lag) days for the whole study population and by socioeconomic status (SES). Odds ratios above 1 indicate an increased risk for OHCA for the given exposure level. For example, on the second day following a day with heavy smoke concentrations, the odds of OHCA was estimated to be 70% higher than expected.Both males and females, and all age groups age 35 and above were affected when exposed to heavy smoke days. Because other wildfire smoke studies have found that older adults are typically the most highly impacted, it was intriguing that this analysis also found that persons between 35 and 64 were at elevated risk. It may be that this younger group is not aware that they could be at risk, causing them to continue activities involving exertion and exposure during wildfire smoke episodes, whereas older persons may be more likely to make changes to reduce exposure to protect their health, suggested Jones. By using CARES data to investigate this critical cardiovascular outcome, researchers were able to show that smoke from wildfires likely has the potential to trigger fatal and near-fatal cardiac arrest. Studying out-of-hospital cardiac arrests proved invaluable in furthering our scientific understanding of the cardiovascular risks from exposures to wildfire smoke, said Hoshiko. We are grateful to the CARES Surveillance Group and also the individual EMS agencies and organizations that chose to include their data in this research. The last few years have awakened the world to more frequent, intense and large-scale wildfires and the smoke plumes they emit, and climate models predict that the weather conditions which create these fires will continue. Researchers anticipate that in addition to these forces, health effects from wildfire emissions will also be affected by the aging American population, as the proportion and number of persons with underlying cardiopulmonary disease increases. Coauthor and cardiologist Dr. Wayne Cascio, Director of the Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment at the US Environmental Protection Agency emphasized, Because of this, it is especially important to protect persons with cardiopulmonary disease who may be at greatest risk, namely patients with ischemic heart disease, heart failure, cerebrovascular disease, arrhythmia, COPD, and asthma. An expert panel convened by the American Heart Association and others recommends advising patients with cardiovascular disease about risks from air pollution. The US EPA, in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, offers continuing education for health care providers on wildfire smoke on the EPA website. 22 https://www.epa.gov/wildfire-smoke-courseReference: Hoshiko S, Jones C, Rappold A, Vargo J, Cascio W, Kharrazi M, McNally B. OutofHospital Cardiac Arrests and WildfireRelated Particulate Matter During 20152017 California Wildfires. JAHA. 2020;9:e014125.Press Release: https://newsroom.heart.org/news/breathing-heavy-wildfire-smoke-may-increase-risk-of-out-of-hospital-cardiac-arrest'