{"id":20391,"date":"2012-03-16T09:48:24","date_gmt":"2012-03-16T17:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=20391"},"modified":"2012-03-16T09:48:24","modified_gmt":"2012-03-16T17:48:24","slug":"doctors-expect-climate-change-to-worsen-lung-diseases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/03\/16\/doctors-expect-climate-change-to-worsen-lung-diseases\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctors Expect Climate Change to Worsen Lung Diseases"},"content":{"rendered":"

In some parts of California air quality is already a big issue<\/strong><\/p>\n

This post originally appeared on KQED’s <\/em>State of Health<\/a> blog.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Farming in the Central Valley contributes to the poor air quality there.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As if there wasn\u2019t already enough to worry about, now doctors are predicting that climate change will harm people\u2019s respiratory health. The American Thoracic Society is so concerned it filed a report<\/a> with two goals. The Society not only wants to raise awareness with doctors so they can take preventive measures with their patients but also is enticing researchers to take on the question for further study. They found that climate change has a direct impact on air quality. A hotter climate, wildfires, more pollen in the air and rates of airborne diseases are worsening respiratory health worldwide.<\/p>\n

Climate change will likely affect different places in different ways, but in California it could mean hotter summers and more wildfires<\/a>. The itchy eyes and sneeze-inducing allergies that plague many people during pollen season could also hang around longer if weather patterns continue to change. All of that is bad for asthmatics, children and the elderly, but also for poor people \u2013 as it turns out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really an eye opener for us,\u201d said Kent Pinkerton<\/a>, a professor of pediatrics at UC Davis and the lead author on the report. \u201cWe were really not aware of the implications of change in temperature on respiratory health. But it really is a global issue. It\u2019s not just a concern for here in our country,\u201d he added. In some parts of Africa and Turkey desertification and increased particulates in the air have already forced people to relocate, often into cramped conditions, which further heightens their risk for respiratory diseases.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In California, wildfires are a blazing example of how increasing dryness and changing weather patterns harm people\u2019s lungs. Pinkerton pointed to the summer of 2008. \u201cWe had over 1000 wildfires burning at the same time. And that really had a significant impact on air quality and particle concentration within the atmosphere,\u201d he explained to me. Another big change \u2014 doctors are seeing infections from molds not seen before in California. \u201cI think a good example of this has been a fungal type of infection that was only found in Central America, that is now found as far north as British Columbia, in Canada,\u201d said Pinkerton.<\/p>\n

So far the people most at risk are those with preexisting lung conditions, the very old and the very young. But in California\u2019s Central Valley some of these affects have gotten so bad that doctors are seeing them in all age groups.<\/p>\n

[module align=”left” width=”half” type=”pull-quote”]\u201cWe were really not aware of the implications of change in temperature on respiratory health. But it really is a global issue.\u201d[\/module]<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m seeing an increase in the last 19-20 years in the number of patients I\u2019m seeing who are experiencing chronic lung disease,\u201d Kevin Hamilton, deputy chief of programs at Clinica Sierra Vista<\/a> in Fresno told me. \u201dIf we see continued changes in the climate you will see resulting problems in people\u2019s health,\u201d he continued. Hamilton is a respiratory therapist who treats mostly low-income patients, often Latino farmworkers making their living in the Central Valley. He says in his experience if air pollution is high, people pass a threshold where they keep getting sick. He says the San Joaquin Valley often has more than 150 days a year that break the health statutes for particulate matter, fine particles in the air that can affect people\u2019s lungs. Consistent poor air quality exacerbates \u2014 and can cause \u2014 illnesses like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In Hamilton\u2019s 34 years of treating lung diseases he says he thinks it\u2019s getting worse. Something else different \u2014 he\u2019s seeing problems in all age groups among his low-income patients, something he doesn\u2019t see with wealthier patients.<\/p>\n

John Capitman, the Executive Director of the Central Valley Health Policy Institute<\/a> and a professor of public health at CSU Fresno, says not all lung problems are created equally in the Central Valley. In fact, he\u2019s also done research<\/a> [PDF] that links the poorest air quality and the poorest health to communities that are low-income and often segregated. \u201cIn some of our more affluent communities we have health status outcomes that are similar to anywhere else in the country,\u201d Capitman explained. \u201cBut in other communities, particularly low-income communities, places that are racially segregated basically, there is evidence that life expectancy is much lower.\u201d Life expectancy is not linked solely to air quality, but exposure to high levels of particulate matter, ozone and pesticides are a contributing factor to the overall poor health that these communities experience.<\/p>\n

That disparity is true around the world. Pinkerton\u2019s report makes clear that many respiratory illnesses linked to a changing climate have a socio-economic component. The people in Africa being forced to relocate are often the poorest, just as the farmworkers in the Central Valley bear the brunt of poor air conditions and increased ozone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In some parts of California air quality is already a big issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":234,"featured_media":20394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[203,448],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-20391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kqedblogs","category-thescience","tag-environmental-justice","tag-public-health"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nDoctors Expect Climate Change to Worsen Lung Diseases | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/03\/16\/doctors-expect-climate-change-to-worsen-lung-diseases\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Doctors Expect Climate Change to Worsen Lung Diseases | Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In some parts of California air quality is already a big issue.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/03\/16\/doctors-expect-climate-change-to-worsen-lung-diseases\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-16T17:48:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.kqed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2012\/03\/tractor300x300.gif\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Katrina Schwartz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@kschwart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Katrina Schwartz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/03\/16\/doctors-expect-climate-change-to-worsen-lung-diseases\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/03\/16\/doctors-expect-climate-change-to-worsen-lung-diseases\/\",\"name\":\"Doctors Expect Climate Change to Worsen Lung Diseases | Climate Watch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-03-16T17:48:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-03-16T17:48:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/39eb8de73cfee10d657c92249ec16212\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/03\/16\/doctors-expect-climate-change-to-worsen-lung-diseases\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/03\/16\/doctors-expect-climate-change-to-worsen-lung-diseases\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/03\/16\/doctors-expect-climate-change-to-worsen-lung-diseases\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Doctors Expect Climate Change to Worsen Lung Diseases\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\",\"name\":\"Climate Watch\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/39eb8de73cfee10d657c92249ec16212\",\"name\":\"Katrina Schwartz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/68d4dc78000d2d4fc0cdfcf780b2b7ba\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a6a567574dafefa959593925eead665c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a6a567574dafefa959593925eead665c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Katrina Schwartz\"},\"description\":\"Katrina Schwartz is a journalist based in San Francisco. 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