Climate change is tough on our lungs. New research should help Nova Scotians prepare

As Nova Scotians grapple with the growing effects of climate change, new research seeks to shed light on how these changes are affecting their lungs.

Climate change can have several impacts on lung health: wildfires pollute the air with harmful particles, warm, humid conditions keep pollution stuck to the ground, and longer growing seasons produce more pollen.

In recent years, these effects have also become visible in Nova Scotia.

Tracy Cushing has been a certified respiratory therapist for nearly 30 years, but last year was the first time she saw so many patients affected by wildfire smoke. Cushing says the hot, humid summer conditions are also taking a greater toll on patients.

“The summers have been particularly tough for many people with COPD in recent years as everything has been getting warmer.”

Now, a Dalhousie University researcher is trying to better understand how these changes affect lung health, with the goal of giving health officials and the public the tools they need to respond.

“Even without the wildfires, there are climate-related changes in air quality that are affecting people’s lung health,” said Sanja Stanojevic, a respiratory epidemiologist at Dalhousie.

“It’s about making sure people have the information so they’re aware… and I think as people become more aware, it becomes more important for scientists and the community to make sure people have access to timely and accurate information about what they can do to mitigate these changes.”

Cheap monitors provide localized data

Stanojevic says Atlantic Canada is fortunate in that its air quality is good compared to the rest of Canada (although she notes that the region has a higher rate of lung problems associated with smoking versus non-smoking).

But as a result, little research has been done in some parts of the region on the link between lung health and climate change.

Still, Stanojevic says research in other areas shows the effects can be serious: For example, exposure to PM2.5 (the tiny, fine particles that make up wildfire smoke) affects lung development and increases the risk of lung disease; poor air quality and high temperatures can worsen symptoms such as coughing or breathing problems in people with COPD and asthma.

A recent national study showed that even relatively low levels of air pollution can negatively affect lung function.

But much of the research to date has relied on government monitors, which are strategically placed across the country but cover only a small geographic area. “In general, these monitors are not in the areas where they are most needed.”

To help fill in this picture in Nova Scotia, Stanojevic is leading a project to install a network of low-cost monitors across the province, providing local air quality information and finding a way to translate that information into actionable information for the public.

Changes at the local level can make a difference

Robert MacDonald, CEO of LungNSPEI, which is supporting the project by helping distribute the monitors, says the organization traditionally focuses on environmental threats such as radon, the second leading cause of lung cancer.

But as other environmental threats, such as wildfires, emerged, the organization has recognized the supporting research into the effects of climate change.

“We know climate change is a global problem, but it’s the small things we can do with policies and procedures at a local level that can make a difference.”

In New Brunswick, NB Lung has already explored a similar approach by participating in a pilot project with Environment and Climate Change Canada, using citizen scientists to deploy low-cost sensors across the province.

“We wanted more detailed data so that during times of increased wildfire smoke, but also during winter home fires, we could see what was going on in these communities,” said Melanie Langille, CEO of NB Lung.

According to Langille, the network has already helped map the impact of wildfires elsewhere (the data is available on a near-real-time map, where people can view the information from each sensor).

“We could literally see the smoke coming into our province as our [sensors] “were illuminated on the map.”

Langille says the organization is also working on placing monitors in provincial parks, with the goal of eventually having 50 sensors across the province.

‘A kind of perfect storm’

Stanojevic says the data from the sensors installed in this province (which also involves working with citizen scientists and marginalized communities) will eventually be available to the public, with a website where people can view data from their local air monitors.

Researchers will also analyze how changes in local air quality affect hospital admissions, which could ultimately help Nova Scotia’s fragile health care system be better prepared for the effects of poor air quality.

“It is a kind of storm in which our quality changes, more and more people live with lung disease and our healthcare system can no longer accommodate them in these moments of crisis,” she says.

“We would like to know whether this leads to more hospital admissions, so that the healthcare system can better anticipate the resources needed as these changes occur more quickly.”

Meanwhile, additional information could help people with lung conditions, including asthma and COPD, respond when there’s a potential climate impact on lung health. That would support the kind of forward planning that Tracy Cushing advises her patients to do in times of increased climate impact, from avoiding outdoor exercise and wearing an N95 mask to preparing emergency medicine in case they’re evacuated.

“Stress is a huge factor for anyone with lung disease,” she says, and people with COPD in particular may have fewer resources available to them because the disease is associated with poverty. “If you have that backup plan … they can feel like they have a little bit more control.”