Emergency Encounters Increased for Certain Diagnoses After Wildfires

TUESDAY, Dec. 30, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Following the January 2025 wildfires affecting Los Angeles, there was an increase in emergency encounters for certain diagnoses, according to a study published online Dec. 19 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Joseph E. Ebinger, M.D., from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and colleagues examined data on emergency encounters at Cedars-Sinai, focusing on encounters involving residents from ZIP codes that were directly affected by a January 2025 wildfire or located adjacent to a fire-affected ZIP code (39 ZIP codes) to assess health outcomes. Encounters occurring within 90 days after fire onset (Jan. 7 to April 7, 2025) were compared to those during prior years (2018 to 2024).

The researchers found that the frequency of average monthly emergency encounters was stable (range: 2,062 to 2,602 for January to March 2018 to 2024 and 2,586 for January to March 2025), and the U.S. Census-estimated population was also stable. During the 90 days after wildfire onset, an excess was seen in encounters for acute pulmonary illness (1,490 versus 1,407 during previous years), acute myocardial infarction (259 versus 222), and blood chemistry laboratory abnormalities (398 versus 115). Encounters for acute pulmonary illness, acute myocardial infarction, and blood chemistry laboratory abnormalities increased by 24, 46, and 118 percent, respectively, in time series analyses accounting for temporal dependencies.

“Fine particles released by wildfires can enter the body and cause injury, particularly to the heart and lungs,” senior author Susan Cheng, M.D., M.P.H., also from Cedars-Sinai, said in a statement.

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