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If you’ve ever felt the familiar throbbing of a migraine any time wildfire smoke fills the air, a new Canadian study suggests you’re not alone.
The research, published Friday in the medical journal JAMA, found links between periods of wildfire smoke and a spike in emergency department visits for migraine and other severe headache conditions in Alberta and Ontario.
Researchers from Health Canada looked at nearly one million emergency visits for migraine conditions between 2010 and 2023 to see the impacts of particulate matter known as PM 2.5 — the term for inhalable particles with diameters of 2.5 micrometres or smaller, which is roughly 30 times thinner than a human hair.
The team found there was a six per cent increase in headache-related hospital trips linked to PM 2.5 from wildfires, suggesting periods of smoke-filled air may precede severe headache episodes that require emergency care.
Headache specialist Dr. William Kingston, a neurologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, said his clinic has seen an uptick in patient calls in recent weeks while the city was blanketed with smoke from wildfires further north.
The six per cent increase seen in the study is really a “hefty number,” he added, given how common migraine conditions are among Canadians.
Complex but common condition
These complex neurological disorders, which Kingston said affect an estimated 14 per cent of the population, are caused by a combination of biological and environmental factors.
Migraine attacks can range in severity, but are typically known for moderate-to-severe head pain alongside symptoms of nausea, vomiting and extreme sensitivity to light, sound and smell — which can last for hours or even days.
“It’s not like everyone with migraine will suddenly get an attack because of the wildfires,” Kingston said.
“But people who tend to be more susceptible to [external] triggers — like weather changes, stress, smoke inhalation, these sorts of things — I would say that if someone is noticing those triggers are really mounting … they may need to treat their disease a little bit more aggressively.”
Three wildfires are burning near the community of Boston Bar, B.C. Crews are battling the Brunswick Complex wildfires from the ground and air, but conditions threaten to fan the flames. The fire has also caused smoky skies in some parts of the province. The CBC’s Brady Strachan brings the latest on air quality from Kelowna.
Fires raging across much of Canada
While the study period ended three years ago, recent summers have shown Canada’s worsening wildfire season continues to pose a threat, even far beyond the areas being burned.
This summer is no exception, with out-of-control fires raging across much of the country.
In Ontario, the province’s latest numbers suggest fires have already set a grim new record — burning through more than 7,250 square kilometres of forest, a larger footprint than the last record set in 2021.
Though the new Health Canada research was able to compare a large number of patient experiences at different points in time, helping scientists spot links between hospital visits and periods of wildfire smoke, the study did have limitations.
“It’s looking at epidemiological data, not individual patients. We don’t know about what experiences the patients with migraine had had before. Are these people who frequent the emergency department anyway?” said Kingston, the headache specialist in Toronto who wasn’t part of the research.
“I think we have to look at it as a trend, not a cause, but certainly a trend that’s worth looking at a little further.”
The researchers didn’t have information on whether people were exposed to wildfire smoke indoors or outdoors, for instance, or any details on medication use that could impact the severity of someone’s headaches.
How to protect yourself
Still, the team stressed their findings support the need for more study into the connections between wildfire smoke and severe headaches — and whether air filtration systems indoors or respirator use outdoors could help people avoid the worst impacts.
Those may be burning questions for the general population as well, given research suggesting exposure to wildfire particulate matter can have a range of health impacts, from dangerous lung inflammation to a heightened risk of heart attack or stroke.
Dr. Carolyn Wonneck, a medical health officer with the Fraser Health Authority in B.C. — a province hard-hit by wildfires this summer — said there’s already emerging evidence that migraine impacts are among the growing list of health risks.
Her guidance to Canadians? Check your region’s air quality index each day, stay indoors and close windows during periods of low air quality and consider using air filtration systems in your home.
Wildfire season is here — and so are air quality warnings from the resulting smoke. Dr. Vaibhav Gupta says while it’s impossible for some people, like those who work outdoors, to stay inside, masks are just one way to mitigate some of the health risks.
For anyone who needs to be outside, Wonneck said it’s important to avoid strenuous activities if there are high levels of smoke.
“We do suggest N95 [masks] for really severe pollution as well.”
If wildfire smoke seems to be triggering more frequent or worsening migraine attacks, Kingston stressed it’s important for people to also speak to a physician about the latest medications and treatments that could make a difference.
“Just make sure that you’re not allowing conditions that are outside of your control to make you feel helpless.”