Slavik Catherine E, Chapman Daniel A, Cleland Stephanie E, Peters Ellen
Center for Science Communication Research, School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon, 1275 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403 USA.
Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada.
Popul Environ. 2025;47(2):20. doi: 10.1007/s11111-025-00491-w. Epub 2025 Apr 14.
Wildfire smoke poses a serious and growing health threat to communities in the United States (US), Canada, and beyond. Some populations-including children-are especially susceptible. Air Quality Indexes (AQIs) can inform parents about local air quality during smoke events and offer guidance on actions that protect children. In July-August 2023, parents from Oregon, Washington, California, and British Columbia (BC) ( = 2100) participated in an online cross-sectional study. Binary and ordinal logistic regression models were used to examine geographic, demographic, and psychosocial predictors of three dependent variables: knowledge of where to check AQI information, frequent checking of AQI information during wildfire seasons, and adherence to AQI health messages around reducing/rescheduling outdoor physical activity. Smoke-exposure analysis indicated widespread potential exposures to wildfire smoke across all four jurisdictions. Nonetheless, parents in BC, on average, were less likely to report knowing where to check AQI information, checked less frequently, and were less likely to adhere to AQI guidance than parents in the three US states. Adherence to AQI health messages did not differ by jurisdiction in the presence of other covariates, suggesting parents are equally likely to follow AQI guidance when they know where to find it and check it. Other consistent predictors of the three dependent variables included experience with prior smoke-related health impacts, smoke risk perceptions, and use of internet/mobile applications as sources of smoke information. These findings indicate that increased promotion of AQIs may benefit parents in some regions during wildfires. Future evaluations of smoke education initiatives could help health agencies share effective practices across jurisdictions and target interventions to increase AQI adoption.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11111-025-00491-w.
野火烟雾对美国、加拿大及其他地区的社区构成了严重且日益增长的健康威胁。包括儿童在内的一些人群尤其易受影响。空气质量指数（AQI）可为家长提供烟雾事件期间当地空气质量的信息，并就保护儿童的行动提供指导。2023年7月至8月，来自俄勒冈州、华盛顿州、加利福尼亚州和不列颠哥伦比亚省（BC）的2100名家长参与了一项在线横断面研究。采用二元和有序逻辑回归模型来检验三个因变量的地理、人口统计学和心理社会预测因素：知晓何处可查看AQI信息、在野火季节频繁查看AQI信息以及遵守关于减少/重新安排户外体育活动的AQI健康信息。烟雾暴露分析表明，在所有四个司法管辖区都存在广泛的野火烟雾潜在暴露情况。尽管如此，与美国三个州的家长相比，BC省的家长平均报告知晓何处可查看AQI信息的可能性较小，查看频率较低，且遵守AQI指导的可能性较小。在存在其他协变量的情况下，遵守AQI健康信息在不同司法管辖区之间没有差异，这表明当家长知道在哪里可以找到并查看AQI信息时，他们同样有可能遵循AQI指导。这三个因变量的其他一致预测因素包括先前与烟雾相关的健康影响经历、烟雾风险认知以及将互联网/移动应用程序用作烟雾信息来源。这些发现表明，在野火期间加强AQI的推广可能会使某些地区的家长受益。未来对烟雾教育倡议的评估有助于卫生机构在不同司法管辖区之间分享有效做法，并针对干预措施以提高AQI的采用率。
在线版本包含可在10.1007/s11111-025-00491-w获取的补充材料。
