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Effect of Short-Term Exposure to Air Pollution on Covid-19 Mortality and Morbidity in Iranian Cities Publisher

Summary: Does air pollution worsen COVID-19 outcomes? Findings suggested increased PM2.5 & NO2 levels correlate with higher morbidity & mortality rates in Iran. #AirPollution #COVID19

Hadei M1 ; Hopke PK2, 3 ; Shahsavani A4, 5 ; Raeisi A6 ; Jafari AJ7 ; Yarahmadi M8 ; Farhadi M8 ; Rahmatinia M5 ; Bazazpour S5 ; Bandpey AM4 ; Zali A9 ; Kermani M7 ; Vaziri MH10 ; Aghazadeh M8
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Source: Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering Published:2021


Abstract

Purpose: The association between air pollutant (PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and O3) concentrations and daily number of COVID-19 confirmed cases and related deaths were evaluated in three major Iranian cities (Tehran, Mashhad, and Tabriz). Methods: Hourly concentrations of air pollutants and daily number of PCR-confirmed cases and deaths of COVID-19 were acquired (February 20th, 2020 to January 4th, 2021). A generalized additive model (GAM) assuming a quasi-Poisson distribution was used to model the associations in each city up to lag-day 7 (for mortality) and 14 (for morbidity). Then, the city-specific estimates were meta-analyzed using a fixed effect model to obtain the overall relative risks (RRs). Results: A total of 114,964 confirmed cases and 21,549 deaths were recorded in these cities. For confirmed cases, exposure to PM2.5, NO2, and O3 for several lag-days showed significant associations. In case of mortality, meta-analysis estimated that the RRs for PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and O3 concentrations were 1.06 (95% CI: 0.99, 1.13), 1.06 (95% CI: 0.93, 1.19), 1.15 (95% CI: 0.93, 1.38), and 1.07 (95% CI: 0.84, 1.31), respectively. Despite several positive associations with all air pollutants over multiple lag-days, COVID-19 mortality was only significantly associated with NO2 on lag-days 0–1 and 1 with the RRs of 1.35 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.67) and 1.16 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.31), respectively. Conclusion: This study showed that air pollution can be a factor exacerbating COVID-19 infection and clinical outcomes. Actions should be taken to reduce the exposure of the public and particularly patients to ambient air pollutants. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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