👶 Children, seniors and people with heart or lung conditions are most at risk

Wildfire smoke affects everyone, but the risk is highest for specific groups: pregnant people, infants and young children, seniors, people with heart...

Wildfire smoke affects everyone, but the risk is highest for specific groups: pregnant people, infants and young children, seniors, people with heart or lung conditions including asthma and COPD, people with diabetes, and people who do strenuous outdoor work or exercise. Health Canada also identifies people experiencing homelessness, people living in remote communities, and Indigenous populations as facing disproportionate risk because of access and exposure factors. Children breathe more rapidly than adults relative to body size and are more likely to be playing outside, so they take in more smoke per kilogram of body weight. Seniors more often have underlying cardiovascular and respiratory conditions that smoke makes worse. People with asthma should keep their reliever inhaler accessible during any smoke event and follow their action plan. Anyone in a high-risk group should reduce outdoor activity at lower AQHI thresholds than the general population — at AQHI 4–6 (Canada), at-risk groups are advised to consider reducing strenuous outdoor activity, while the general population can usually continue normal activities. In the US, the AirNow AQI (airnow.gov) gives the same kind of tiered guidance, with sensitive groups warned to cut back at lower numbers than the general public.

Source: Canada — Health Effects of Wildfire Smoke Exposure

Last reviewed 2026-05-02.

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