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Background: Little is known about the long-term health impacts of exposures to landscape fire smoke. We aimed to evaluate the association between exposure to coal mine fire-related particulate matter 2.5 μm or less in diameter (PM2.5) and hospitalisation in the 5 years following the 6-week Hazelwood coal mine fire in Australia in 2014.Methods: We surveyed 2725 residents (mean age: 58.3 years; 54.3% female) from an exposed and a comparison town. Individual PM2.5 exposures during the event were estimated using modelled PM2.5 concentrations related to the coal mine fire and self-reported location data. The individual exposure and survey data were linked with hospitalisation records between January 2009 and February 2019. Recurrent event survival analysis was used to evaluate relationships between PM2.5 exposure and hospitalisation following mine fire, adjusting for important covariates.Results: Each 10-µg/m3 increase in mine fire-related PM2.5 was associated with a 9% increased hazard [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.09; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01, 1.17] of respiratory hospitalisation over the next 5 years, with stronger associations observed for females (HR = 1.16; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.27) than males (HR = 0.99; 95% CI: 0.89, 1.11). In particular, increased hazards were observed for hospitalisations for asthma (HR = 1.43; 95% CI: 1.19, 1.73) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (HR = 1.14; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.28). No such association was found for hospitalisations for cardiovascular diseases, mental illness, injuries, type 2 diabetes, renal diseases or neoplasms.Conclusions: A 6-week exposure to coal mine fire-related PM2.5 was associated with increased hazard of respiratory hospitalisations over the following 5 years, particularly for females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study assessed the association between coal-mine-fire-related fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and medical-service utilization, following a 6-week coal-mine fire in Australia, in 2014. Areas in the immediate vicinity of the mine experienced hourly mine-fire-related PM2.5 concentrations of up to 3700 μg/m3.Methods: Data on medical-service utilization were collected from the Medicare Benefits Schedule-a national database of payment for medical services. PM2.5 concentrations were modelled using atmospheric chemical transport modelling. Quasi-Poisson interrupted distributed lag time-series analysis examined the association between daily mine-fire-related PM2.5 concentrations and medical-service utilization, including General Practitioner (GP) consultations and respiratory, cardiovascular and mental health services. Confounders included seasonality, long-term trend, day of the week, maximum daily temperature and public holidays. Gender and age stratification were conducted.Results: A 10-μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 was associated with an increased relative risk of service usage for all long and short GP consultations [11% (95% confidence interval: 7 to 15%)] and respiratory services [22% (4 to 43%)] in both men and women. Sex stratification found an increased relative risk in mental health consultations in men [32% (2 to 72%)] but not women. No associations were found for cardiovascular services in men or women.Conclusions: Coal-mine-fire-related PM2.5 exposure was associated with increased use of medical services for GP consultations and respiratory services in men and women and mental health consultations in men. These findings can inform the development of future public-health-policy responses in the event of major air-pollution episodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]