Impact of Australian bushfires of 2019-2020 (AIHW, 2022)

The bushfires that swept across Australia in 2019–2020 resulted in 33 deaths, destruction of over 3,000 houses and millions of hectares. Bushfire smoke exposure was significantly associated with an increased risk of respiratory morbidity. Nationally, hospitalisation rates increased for asthma and COPD coinciding with increased bushfire activity during the 2019–20 bushfire season. For asthma, the highest increase was 36% in the week beginning 12 January 2020 (2.4 per 100,000 persons) compared to the previous 5-year average (1.7 per 100,000 persons).
For Emergency Department presentations, asthma saw the highest increase of 44% in the week beginning 12 January 2020 (4.7 per 100,000 persons compared to the previous bushfire season (3.3 per 100,000 persons).