Impact of global short-term landscape fire sourced PM2.5 exposure on child cause-specific morbidity: a study in multiple countries and territories

Shuang Zhou; Yiwen Zhang; Zhengyu Yang; Rongbin Xu; Wenzhong Huang; Yao Wu; Zhihu Xu; Yuan Gao; Yanming Liu; Wenhua Yu; Pei Yu; Gongbo Chen; Ke Ju; Tingting Ye; Bo Wen; Yuxi Zhang; Michael Abramson; Lidia Morawska; Fay H. Johnston; Simon Hales; Micheline S.Z.S. Coelho; Yue Leon Guo; Jane Heyworth; Wissanupong Kliengchuay; Luke Knibbs; Eric Lavigne; Guy Marks; Patricia Matus; Geoffrey Morgan; Paulo H.N. Sadiva; Kraichat Tantrakarnapa; Yuming Guo; Shanshan Li

doi:10.1038/s41467-025-64411-0

Impact of global short-term landscape fire sourced PM_2.5 exposure on child cause-specific morbidity: a study in multiple countries and territories

Shuang Zhou
, Yiwen Zhang
, Zhengyu Yang
, Rongbin Xu
, Wenzhong Huang
, Yao Wu
, Zhihu Xu
, Yuan Gao
, Yanming Liu
, Wenhua Yu
, Pei Yu
, Gongbo Chen
, Ke Ju
, Tingting Ye
, Bo Wen
, Yuxi Zhang
, Michael Abramson
, Lidia Morawska
, Fay H. Johnston
, Simon Hales

Micheline S.Z.S. Coelho, Yue Leon Guo, Jane Heyworth, Wissanupong Kliengchuay, Luke Knibbs, Eric Lavigne, Guy Marks, Patricia Matus, Geoffrey Morgan, Paulo H.N. Sadiva, Kraichat Tantrakarnapa, Yuming Guo^*, Shanshan Li^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Children are particularly vulnerable to landscape fire sourced fine particulate matter (LFS PM_2.5), yet evidence on its health effects remains limited. Here we show that short-term exposure to LFS PM_2.5 is associated with increased hospital admissions for multiple diseases in children and adolescents. We analysed daily hospital admission data from 1012 communities in seven countries/territories, linked to a high-resolution LFS PM_2.5 dataset. Each 10 μg/m³ increase in LFS PM_2.5 was associated with elevated risks for all-cause (1.1%), respiratory (1.9%), infectious (1.5%), cardiovascular (2.9%), neurological (2.8%), diabetes (3.7%), cancer (1.5%), and digestive (0.8%) hospital admissions. Risks for respiratory, infectious, and neurological conditions increased even at low exposure, while others rose only above 15-20 μg/m³. Children aged 5-9 years and those in lower socioeconomic areas were especially affected. These findings highlight the health burden of LFS PM_2.5 in young people and the urgent need to reduce exposure and protect vulnerable populations.

Original language	English
Article number	9347
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	16
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-64411-0
State	Published - Dec 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1038/s41467-025-64411-0

Cite this

Zhou, S., Zhang, Y., Yang, Z., Xu, R., Huang, W., Wu, Y., Xu, Z., Gao, Y., Liu, Y., Yu, W., Yu, P., Chen, G., Ju, K., Ye, T., Wen, B., Zhang, Y., Abramson, M., Morawska, L., Johnston, F. H., ... Li, S. (2025). Impact of global short-term landscape fire sourced PM_2.5 exposure on child cause-specific morbidity: a study in multiple countries and territories. Nature Communications, 16(1), Article 9347. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-64411-0

@article{bcfe437fa83645869579a9862c1f2147,

title = "Impact of global short-term landscape fire sourced PM2.5 exposure on child cause-specific morbidity: a study in multiple countries and territories",

abstract = "Children are particularly vulnerable to landscape fire sourced fine particulate matter (LFS PM2.5), yet evidence on its health effects remains limited. Here we show that short-term exposure to LFS PM2.5 is associated with increased hospital admissions for multiple diseases in children and adolescents. We analysed daily hospital admission data from 1012 communities in seven countries/territories, linked to a high-resolution LFS PM2.5 dataset. Each 10 μg/m3 increase in LFS PM2.5 was associated with elevated risks for all-cause (1.1\%), respiratory (1.9\%), infectious (1.5\%), cardiovascular (2.9\%), neurological (2.8\%), diabetes (3.7\%), cancer (1.5\%), and digestive (0.8\%) hospital admissions. Risks for respiratory, infectious, and neurological conditions increased even at low exposure, while others rose only above 15-20 μg/m3. Children aged 5-9 years and those in lower socioeconomic areas were especially affected. These findings highlight the health burden of LFS PM2.5 in young people and the urgent need to reduce exposure and protect vulnerable populations.",

author = "Shuang Zhou and Yiwen Zhang and Zhengyu Yang and Rongbin Xu and Wenzhong Huang and Yao Wu and Zhihu Xu and Yuan Gao and Yanming Liu and Wenhua Yu and Pei Yu and Gongbo Chen and Ke Ju and Tingting Ye and Bo Wen and Yuxi Zhang and Michael Abramson and Lidia Morawska and Johnston, \{Fay H.\} and Simon Hales and Coelho, \{Micheline S.Z.S.\} and Guo, \{Yue Leon\} and Jane Heyworth and Wissanupong Kliengchuay and Luke Knibbs and Eric Lavigne and Guy Marks and Patricia Matus and Geoffrey Morgan and Sadiva, \{Paulo H.N.\} and Kraichat Tantrakarnapa and Yuming Guo and Shanshan Li",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2025.",

year = "2025",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1038/s41467-025-64411-0",

language = "English",

volume = "16",

journal = "Nature Communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

publisher = "Nature Research",

number = "1",

}

Zhou, S, Zhang, Y, Yang, Z, Xu, R, Huang, W, Wu, Y, Xu, Z, Gao, Y, Liu, Y, Yu, W, Yu, P, Chen, G, Ju, K, Ye, T, Wen, B, Zhang, Y, Abramson, M, Morawska, L, Johnston, FH, Hales, S, Coelho, MSZS, Guo, YL, Heyworth, J, Kliengchuay, W, Knibbs, L, Lavigne, E, Marks, G, Matus, P, Morgan, G, Sadiva, PHN, Tantrakarnapa, K, Guo, Y & Li, S 2025, 'Impact of global short-term landscape fire sourced PM_2.5 exposure on child cause-specific morbidity: a study in multiple countries and territories', Nature Communications, vol. 16, no. 1, 9347. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-64411-0

TY - JOUR

T1 - Impact of global short-term landscape fire sourced PM2.5 exposure on child cause-specific morbidity

T2 - a study in multiple countries and territories

AU - Zhou, Shuang

AU - Zhang, Yiwen

AU - Yang, Zhengyu

AU - Xu, Rongbin

AU - Huang, Wenzhong

AU - Wu, Yao

AU - Xu, Zhihu

AU - Gao, Yuan

AU - Liu, Yanming

AU - Yu, Wenhua

AU - Yu, Pei

AU - Chen, Gongbo

AU - Ju, Ke

AU - Ye, Tingting

AU - Wen, Bo

AU - Zhang, Yuxi

AU - Abramson, Michael

AU - Morawska, Lidia

AU - Johnston, Fay H.

AU - Hales, Simon

AU - Coelho, Micheline S.Z.S.

AU - Guo, Yue Leon

AU - Heyworth, Jane

AU - Kliengchuay, Wissanupong

AU - Knibbs, Luke

AU - Lavigne, Eric

AU - Marks, Guy

AU - Matus, Patricia

AU - Morgan, Geoffrey

AU - Sadiva, Paulo H.N.

AU - Tantrakarnapa, Kraichat

AU - Guo, Yuming

AU - Li, Shanshan

PY - 2025/12

Y1 - 2025/12

N2 - Children are particularly vulnerable to landscape fire sourced fine particulate matter (LFS PM2.5), yet evidence on its health effects remains limited. Here we show that short-term exposure to LFS PM2.5 is associated with increased hospital admissions for multiple diseases in children and adolescents. We analysed daily hospital admission data from 1012 communities in seven countries/territories, linked to a high-resolution LFS PM2.5 dataset. Each 10 μg/m3 increase in LFS PM2.5 was associated with elevated risks for all-cause (1.1%), respiratory (1.9%), infectious (1.5%), cardiovascular (2.9%), neurological (2.8%), diabetes (3.7%), cancer (1.5%), and digestive (0.8%) hospital admissions. Risks for respiratory, infectious, and neurological conditions increased even at low exposure, while others rose only above 15-20 μg/m3. Children aged 5-9 years and those in lower socioeconomic areas were especially affected. These findings highlight the health burden of LFS PM2.5 in young people and the urgent need to reduce exposure and protect vulnerable populations.

AB - Children are particularly vulnerable to landscape fire sourced fine particulate matter (LFS PM2.5), yet evidence on its health effects remains limited. Here we show that short-term exposure to LFS PM2.5 is associated with increased hospital admissions for multiple diseases in children and adolescents. We analysed daily hospital admission data from 1012 communities in seven countries/territories, linked to a high-resolution LFS PM2.5 dataset. Each 10 μg/m3 increase in LFS PM2.5 was associated with elevated risks for all-cause (1.1%), respiratory (1.9%), infectious (1.5%), cardiovascular (2.9%), neurological (2.8%), diabetes (3.7%), cancer (1.5%), and digestive (0.8%) hospital admissions. Risks for respiratory, infectious, and neurological conditions increased even at low exposure, while others rose only above 15-20 μg/m3. Children aged 5-9 years and those in lower socioeconomic areas were especially affected. These findings highlight the health burden of LFS PM2.5 in young people and the urgent need to reduce exposure and protect vulnerable populations.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105019563064

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-025-64411-0

DO - 10.1038/s41467-025-64411-0

M3 - Article

C2 - 41125599

AN - SCOPUS:105019563064

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 16

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

IS - 1

M1 - 9347

ER -