摘要：AbstractEpidemiological studies frequently use black carbon (BC) as a proxy for traffic‐related air pollution (TRAP). However, wildfire smoke (WFS) represents an important source of BC not often considered when using BC as a proxy for TRAP. Here, we examined the potential for WFS to bias TRAP exposure assessments based on BC measurements. Weekly integrated BC samples were collected across the Denver, CO region from May to November 2018. We collected 609 filters during our sampling campaigns, 35% of which were WFS‐impacted. For each filter we calculated an average BC concentration. We assessed three GIS‐based indicators of TRAP for each sampling location: annual average daily traffic within a 300 m buffer, the minimum distance to a highway, and the sum of the lengths of roadways within 300 m. Median BC concentrations were 9% higher for WFS‐impacted filters (median = 1.14 μg/m3, IQR = 0.23 μg/m3) than nonimpacted filters (median = 1.04 μg/m3, IQR = 0.48 μg/m3). During WFS events, BC concentrations were elevated and expected spatial gradients in BC were reduced. We conducted a simulation study to estimate TRAP exposure misclassification as the result of regional WFS. Our results suggest that linear health effect estimates were biased away from the null when WFS was present. Thus, exposure assessments relying on BC as a proxy for TRAP may be biased by wildfire events. Alternative metrics that account for the influence of “brown” carbon associated with biomass burning may better isolate the effects of traffic emissions from those of other black carbon sources.Plain Language SummaryBlack carbon, a constituent of particulate matter linked to the incomplete combustion of carbonaceous fuels, has been used in an increasing number of studies as a proxy for traffic exposures. In this study, we explored the potential of large wildfire events to bias heath effect estimates relying on black carbon as a proxy measure for traffic pollutants. We found that, for Denver, CO, wildfire smoke biased traffic exposure measures in a spatially‐dependent way and resulted in larger effect estimates for our simulated health outcome. Our study emphasizes the need to consider specific regional sources of traffic‐related air pollutants that might bias exposure assessments.Key PointsWildfire smoke may alter the expected intraurban gradients in black carbon concentrations and bias traffic exposure assessmentsIn our simulated health effects study, bias introduced by wildfire smoke resulted in larger than expected linear regression coefficientsStudies relying on black carbon as a marker for traffic emissions need to consider the potential for bias from other proximate BC sources
