Study – Almost 75% of Maui wildfire survey participants have respiratory issues

A man views the aftermath of a wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii (Jae C Hong/AP, File)

A University of Hawaii study examining the health effects of last year’s deadly wildfires on Maui found that up to 74% of participants may have difficulty breathing and otherwise have poor respiratory health, and almost half showed signs of compromised lung function.

The data, gathered from 679 people in January and February, comes from what researchers hope will be a long-term study of wildfire survivors lasting at least a decade. Researchers released early results from that research on Wednesday.