While the evidence for an association between air pollution from bushfire smoke and heart, stroke and vascular conditions (also known as cardiovascular conditions, which includes events such as heart attack and stroke) is not as comprehensive as for respiratory conditions, several studies have found associations (see Australian bushfires 2019–20: exploring the short-term health impacts).
Analyses did not identify a consistent pattern in relation to impacts from bushfires and cardiovascular hospitalisations; however, there were examples of increases in hospitalisations for cardiovascular conditions coinciding with, or following, periods of poor air quality or fire activity. There were also some decreases in some jurisdictions and periods of the bushfire season, for particular conditions. The results suggest that further investigation is warranted regarding the extent to which these increases can be attributed to the effects of bushfire smoke pollution and whether there is a lag between exposure to air pollution and hospitalisation for cardiovascular conditions, as has been reported in the literature for some cardiovascular conditions (Walter et al. 2020). It should also be noted that other factors such as extreme heat (Loughnan et al. 2010), which often co-occurs with bushfire, may also lead to increases in hospitalisations.
Nationally, there were increases in the hospitalisation rate for selected heart conditions (ICD-10-AM codes I10–I15, I20–I25, I26–I28 and I30–I52), coinciding with increased bushfire activity during the 2019–20 bushfire season, particularly in January and February 2020. The greatest increase in the hospitalisation rate was 8.8% in the week beginning 19 January 2020—31 per 100,000 persons (about 7,900 hospitalisations), compared with the previous 5-year average of 29 per 100,000 (an average of about 6,900 hospitalisations).
To explore national data and data for states and territories, see interactive data visualisations below (for data tables see Supplementary table S1).