Wildfires
In June 2023, New York City and much of the Northeast were blanketed in thick smoke from vast and devastating wildfires in Canada. For many New Yorkers, including myself, the skies darkened, and the air became heavy with smoke, making it difficult to breathe. This acute and severe air pollution had a profound and harmful impact. My colleagues from Mount Sinai Hospital, Montefiore Medical Center, and the Jefferson Headache Clinic, along with myself, set out to assess its potential effects on headaches and migraine.
What we discovered was astonishing, yet not entirely surprising. First, at outpatient headache centers, we observed a significant increase in patients calling about headaches—whether requesting medication refills or reporting worsening pain. Emergency room visits for headaches also spiked. We compared this data not only to the periods before and after the wildfire event but also to the same time frame in the previous year. The results strongly suggested that the increase was not random but directly linked to the smoke exposure. Additionally, local air quality monitors recorded an AQI peak of over 270, confirming the severity of the pollution.
But what exactly does wildfire smoke have to do with worsening headaches? Wildfire smoke contains fine particulate matter known as PM2.5—particles that are 2.5 microns or smaller. These particles have been linked to inflammation, which likely triggers a cascade of effects leading to more frequent or severe headache attacks. With the recent devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, concerns about the future impact of extreme weather events on health continue to grow.
In a previous study, I reported that the burden of migraines has been increasing in recent years. Could climate change be a driving factor? The evidence increasingly suggests that it is.
My research focuses on the relationship between weather patterns and headache disorders. I have collaborated with Teva and its research team to analyze meteorological data from the Ajovy HALO clinical trials. At the 2024 American Headache Society Scientific Meeting, we presented findings showing that a 10-degree Fahrenheit increase in daily average temperature significantly raised the risk of weather-related headaches. Further data analysis is ongoing, and I look forward to sharing more insights into headache trends influenced by climate and environmental changes.