The following is a transcript of a conversation with Dr. Sanjay Sethi. Sethi is the chief of the division of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at the University at Buffalo's Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and specializes in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.
Angelea Preston: Why are those with respiratory diseases, such as asthma and COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) most affected by the Air Quality Advisory?
Sanjay Sethi: Because of the air quality the level that we are at like today or yesterday, if you have asthma or COPD your airways are already inflamed. You're already more prone to get respiratory infections so in that kind of range of air quality that we are in unfortunately they are the ones who are more prone to get inflammation and the proneness to infection to go up substantially. So they already kind of primed and then they have this additional insult from the air quality. So they are the ones who are more likely to end up requiring medications or even end up in the hospital. So that's the that's the concern for those individuals.
Preston: What about for individuals who don't have any underlying conditions? Is it still risky for them to be outdoors and do regular activities as well?
Sethi: Not to the same extent. If the air quality index was like about 250, or 300, then yes we would then really be at the point where we'll say, stay indoors as much as possible and avoid that. So I would say that we are not at that level. If you look at the warnings that are coming through the advice in general, so yes, you want to minimize the exposure, but this is a short term exposure. So, in the short term, if you've got healthy lungs, it is not that big an issue. And the levels are that the air quality got much worse, which I don't think will happen because we are far away from the wildfires, then it would have been a concern.
Preston: Do you have any safety tips for the community, for us?
Sethi: Yes, so if you do have lung disease, or even heart disease, so there is some data showing that people with heart disease, there is an increased incidence of getting heart ischemia and things like those, I wouldn't say heart attacks, but definitely having problems, cardiovascular problems. So for that group of people, again, the very old people above 65, very young, because their immune systems are not fully developed. So those kinds of individuals, I would say, stay inside as much as possible, keeping the windows and doors closed, if you have an air purifier or filtration system to use that. Avoiding the outside and exerting would be a good idea. If you don't have those problems, yes, you can be outside, or sorry, going back to the first group, if you have to be outside then wearing a mask would be useful. It'll have to be a tight fitting mask to really have an effect. I hate to go back to COVID days a KN-95 would be effective. Because you really need to filter out the air and filter out the particles. And then in the people without those issues, I would say, if you can avoid strenuous activity outside, that would be a decent, that would be a reasonable precaution. So if you like to go for runs every day, maybe if you can run inside today, maybe a better idea, because what happens when you when you do a strenuous activity, you're breathing much harder. So you're exposing your lungs to a much greater dose of these, these particles in the air and the ozone and other gases. If you go for a run, you're going to increase the ventilation several times. And that, obviously, that means all of those particles are going to go deeper into the lung. So the potential the risk of any kind of injury to the to the lung, even if it's short term does go up. So I think if we are I mean, if I have a choice and somebody who likes to do strenuous activity, normal activities, I think we're okay but strenuous activity, then best to avoid that and do it inside if you can.
Preston: What are some signs of distress that we should be looking for?
Sethi: Shortness of breath, cough, chest discomfort, chest pain, tightness in the chest, those are all classic symptoms of the areas getting irritated, and inflamed. So if you have any of those, those are the things to look for. Most people with COPD and asthma, they usually have a rescue inhaler. If they are on treatment, and they could use the rescue inhaler more frequently that's one way to kind of way to tide them over if they feel those symptoms, but if that doesn't do the trick, but definitely they should get evaluated. But at least call the doctor and have a discussion with them.