An effect assessment of Airborne particulate matter pollution on COVID-19: A multi-city Study in China

Abstract

≤ 2.5 μ m (PM 2.5 ) and ≤ 10 μ m (PM 10 ), ambient temperature (AT), absolute humidity (AH) and migration scale index (MSI) in 72 cities of China (excluded Wuhan city) on a daily basis, each of whichconfirmed more than 50 cases from January 20th to March 2nd, 2020. We applied a two-stage analysis. Generalized additive models with quasi-Poisson distribution was first fitted to estimate city-specific effects of PM 10 and PM 2.5 on daily confirmed COVID-19 cases while controlling AT, AH and MSI. Then, we used meta-analysis to generate the pooled effect estimates from city-specific results.Results: During the study period, there were a total of 24 939 COVID-19 cases, most of which were reported in Hubei Province. In our meta-analysis, we found each 10 μ g/m 3 increase in concentration of PM 2.5 and PM 10 in single day lag (from lag 0 to lag 7 and lag 14) were positively associated with confirmed cases of COVID-19, not including PM 10 at lag 5, lag 6 and lag 7, and PM 2.5 at lag 5, lag 6. Similar trend was also found in different cumulative lag days (from lag 01 to lag 07 and lag 014). The effects of PM 2.5 and PM 10 on daily COVID-19 confirmed cases are statistically significant for three cumulative lag periods over 3, 7 and 14 days with the greatest effect over 14 days. The estimated RRs of which were 1.64 (95% CIs: 1.47, 1.82) and 1.47 (95% CIs: 1.34, 1.61) with each 10 μ g/m 3 increase in concentrations of PM 2.5 and PM 10 , respectively. In addition, we found that the effects of PM 2.5 on daily confirmed cases were greater than PM 10 in all included lag days. Conclusions:This nationwide study suggests that airborne PM pollution likely increases the risk of getting COVID-19 in China.

Early evidence of a higher incidence of COVID-19 in the air-polluted regions of eight severely affected countries

“…In China, in Hubei province, brand new time analyses give preliminary evidence of a correlation between high levels of NO2 and 12day delayed virus outbreaks 49 and other PM covariates 50,51 . In the U.S.A., levels of PM2.5 have just been found responsible for 20-time higher mortality rate by COVID-19, a rate much higher than other demographic co-variables 52 .…”

Particulate Matter as a Driven Factor Covid19 Transmission at Outdoor: Review

“…Aerosols in recent times were confirmed as one of the Covid19 transmission routes that could be modified by the level of pollution of PM in air (23). The results of the research conducted in 72 cities in China found positive correlations between the PM 2.5 and PM 10 cases with the Covid19 case by taking into account the population migration factor and the meteorological factor (24). These results give the conclusion that it is possible that the PM pollution in the air affects the transmission of Covid19.…”

Implications of COVID-19 on The of Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) in Ethiopia

“…Correspondingly, higher mortality was also correlated with poor air quality, namely with high PM 2.5 , CO and NO 2 values [19]. In the same way, airborne particulate matter pollution likely increases the risk of getting COVID-19 in China [20]. COVID-19 held higher case fatality rate with increasing concentrations of PM 2.5 and PM 10 in temporal scale, which may affect the process of patients developed from mild to severe and nally in uence the prognosis of COVID-19 patients [21].…”