Wildfires can extend hospital stays for cancer patients, according to new research that points to concern among health experts about the potential effects that blazes have on people who are recovering from surgery.
Patients who were in a hospital as wildfires raged nearby remained admitted nearly two days longer on average than patients who were not close to a fire, said a study that was published this week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Researchers looked at national data of lung cancer patients who underwent surgery to remove tumors, and compared it to federal disaster declarations for wildfires in the same counties.
“This is an interesting finding that may have implications either for how patients are recovering or for how physicians are making decisions about when to discharge these patients,” said co-author Amruta Nori-Sarma, deputy director of the Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
