According to a study, air pollution caused by landscape fires causes about 1.53 million deaths worldwide every year The Lancet Found the journal. Landscape fire refers to any planned or unplanned wildfire, bushfire or vegetation fire.

According to the study, more than 90 percent of these deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Asia. India, China, Congo, Indonesia and Nigeria were identified as the countries with the highest number of deaths.

Despite its profound impact on public health, the global, regional and national mortality associated with LFS air pollution is inadequately understood.

To assess this knowledge gap, a comprehensive study was conducted using data from 2000 to 2019. It focused on landscape fire fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and surface ozone (O3) at country-specific daily and annual levels. The researchers calculated the relative risks of short-term and long-term effects of these pollutants on mortality. The study also included all-cause, cardiovascular and respiratory deaths derived from broader community-specific studies and meta-analyses.

The findings showed that of the total deaths caused by the landscape fires, at least 450,000 people died due to cardiovascular problems and 220,000 died due to respiratory problems. Cardiovascular deaths due to pollution from landscape fires also increased by 1.67 percent annually.

Specifically, the presence of PM2.5 and O3 in landscape fires contributed 77.6 percent and 22.4 percent of these deaths, respectively.