Spatio-Temporal Trends in Wildfire Smoke Exposures at Schools and Childcare Centers in the United States and Implications for Child and Adolescent Health.

Wildfire smoke exposure at U.S. schools and childcare centers increased from 6.8 to 54.4 days and from 9.4 to 112.2 days annually between 2006 and 2023, with the highest counts in the South, Midwest, and West.

• Why it matters: Wildfire smoke exposure is known to harm children and adolescents, yet understanding of its temporal and regional trends at educational facilities remains limited. This gap hinders effective risk assessment and development of mitigation strategies to protect youth health.
• What they did: The study analyzed satellite imagery and air trajectory data to quantify annual smoke days and student-smoke-days at over 246,000 U.S. educational facilities from 2006 to 2023, including indoor/outdoor PM 2.5 ratios from West Coast monitors.
• The result: The findings highlight a rapid increase in wildfire smoke exposure over time, especially after 2019, emphasizing the need for schools and childcare centers to adopt clean-air strategies and exposure mitigation plans to safeguard child health.