Using FRI to detect early wildfire exposure on lung development

During the ERS 2019 conference, Fluidda presented the results of a study which investigated that FRI (Functional Respiratory Imaging) parameters can be a sensitive tool to detect early-life wildfire smoke exposure.

Wildfires are a significant source of air pollution and are predicted to increase in frequency as a result of climate change. Despite becoming a public health concern, the impact of acute wildfire smoke inhalation on development of chronic disease is unknown, particularly in susceptible populations. Evidence of lung function decrements has been reported earlier in a cohort of adolescent rhesus macaque monkeys that were exposed as infants to high concentrations of ambient PM2.5 from Northern California wildfires (Black, et. al. 2017). Functional respiratory imaging (FRI) has the potential to better characterize the structural changes and functional deficits. The purpose of this study was to identify FRI parameters as significant predictors for wildfire smoke exposure at young age, enabling a better understanding and quantification of the longitudinal effects on lung dynamics.