Associations between Wildfire Smoke Exposure and Health-Related Quality of Life: Findings from the Lovelace Smokers Cohort

Background The impact of wildfire smoke (WFS) on air quality across the contiguous US has become geographically widespread. However, the effects of episodic WFS exposure on psychometric measures of mental and physical health remain largely unknown. Objectives To assess the associations between WFS PM _2.5 and black carbon (BC) exposure and psychometric health measures. Methods The St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) and the 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36) were administered to participants in the Lovelace Smokers Cohort in New Mexico to assess psychometric health measures in the past 4 weeks. WFS estimates were calculated against Albuquerque metropolitan area or individual residential addresses for 7-, 15-, 30-, and 60-d prior to questionnaire filling. The associations between exposure and health measures were assessed using linear models. Results Significant associations were observed for all psychometric measures with WFS PM _2.5 and BC exposures estimated for 7-d prior to questionnaire filling. Significant associations remained for WFS exposure estimated up to 30-d prior to questionnaire filling for all SGRQ subdomains and physical health measures of SF-36, but became non-significant for the mental health measures of SF-36 beyond one week prior. Additionally, WFS PM _2.5 exhibited stronger potency than total ambient PM _2.5 . Male participants, individuals with less than a college education, and those exposed to woodsmoke demonstrated heightened vulnerability to WFS. Conclusions Episodic exposure to WFS was associated with worse SGRQ and SF-36 scores, with notable differences in temporal patterns between mental and physical health measures. Our findings also underscore the importance of source-specific risk assessment for air pollution.