Effects of chronic exposure to ambient air pollutants on COVID-19 morbidity and mortality - A lesson from OECD countries

Barnett-Itzhaki, Zohar; Levi, Adi

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2021.110723

Cited by 30 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Of note, all the multivariate models we built including PM 2.5 concentrations were statistically significant (p < 0.05). These models, together with the PM 2.5 models in our previous study of 36 OECD countries ( Barnett-Itzhaki and Levi, 2021 ), emphasize the importance of reducing the ambient concentrations of this dangerous air pollutant in the struggle for decreasing the morbidity and mortality rates of COVID-19.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…Furthermore, in our recently published study, we revealed statistically significant multistate associations between the concentrations of PM 2.5 and NOx in 36 OECD countries, to morbidity and mortality from COVID-19. We concluded that concentrations of those pollutants exceeding WHO guidelines, might exacerbate COVID-19 morbidity and mortality ( Barnett-Itzhaki and Levi, 2021 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In another study, we recently analyzed air pollution and COVID-19 morbidity and mortality data from 36 OECD countries. We found that long-term exposure to air pollutants such as PM 2.5 and NOx at concentrations exceeding WHO guidelines, might exacerbate morbidity and mortality rates from COVID-19 ( Barnett-Itzhaki and Levi, 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

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Effects of chronic exposure to ambient air pollutants, demographic, and socioeconomic factors on COVID-19 morbidity: The Israeli case study

Levi

Barnett-Itzhaki

2021

Environmental Research

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Background Recent studies conducted in several OECD countries have shown that chronic exposure to elevated levels of air pollutants (especially PM 2.5 , PM 10 and NOx), might negatively impact COVID-19 morbidity and mortality rates. The aim of this study was to examine the association between chronic exposure to air pollution in Israeli cities and towns, their demographic and socioeconomic status, and COVID-19 morbidity, during the three local morbidity waves. Methods We examined the associations between: (a) annual average concentrations of NOx, CO, PM 10 , PM 2.5 and SO 2 in 2016–2019, and demographic and socioeconomic parameters, and (b) COVID-19 positive cases in 279 Israeli cities and towns, in the four state-wide morbidity peaks: 1 st wave peak: March 31 st , 2020; 2 nd wave peaks: July 24 th and September 27 th , 2020, and the 3 rd wave peak: January 17 th , 2021, which occurred after the beginning of the nationwide vaccination campaign. These associations were calculated using both Spearman correlations and multivariate linear regressions. Results We found statistically significant positive correlations between the concentrations of most pollutants in 2016–19 and COVID-19 morbidity rate at the first three timepoints but not the 4t h (January 17 th , 2021). Population density and city/town total population were also positively associated with the COVID-19 morbidity rates at these three timepoints, but not the 4 th , in which socioeconomic parameters were more dominant - we found a statistically significant negative correlation between socioeconomic cluster and COVID-19 morbidity. In addition, all multivariate models including PM 2.5 concentrations were statistically significant, and PM 2.5 concentrations were positively associated with the COVID-19 morbidity rates in all models. Conclusions We found a nationwide association between population chronic exposure to five main air pollutants in Israeli cities and towns, and COVID-19 morbidity rates during two of the three morbidity waves experienced in Israel. The widespread morbidity that was related to socioeconomic factors during the 3 rd wave, emphasizes the need for special attention to morbidity prevention in socioeconomically vulnerable populations and especially in large household communities. Nevertheless, this ecological study has several limitations, such as the inability to draw conclusions about causality or mechanisms of action. The growing body of evidence, regarding...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 75%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of chronic exposure to ambient air pollutants, demographic, and socioeconomic factors on COVID-19 morbidity: The Israeli case study

Levi

Barnett-Itzhaki

2021

Environmental Research

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“…A series of studies have been carried out on the impact of social factors such as poverty [ 32 ], social distancing policies [ 33 ] and income gap factors [ 34 ] on the epidemic. Evidence shows that exposure to air pollution might be an additional factor influencing COVID-19 morbidity and mortality rates [ 35 ]. Further, COVID-19 will also have a profound impact on the natural environment and society as a whole.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamically adjusted strategy in response to developments in the COVID-19 pandemic as a new normal

Shi

2021

Global Health

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Presently, the developments of COVID-19 situation in different countries and regions have clearly differentiated. Due to differences in resources, infrastructure, and awareness of epidemic prevention and control, capabilities for COVID-19 prevention and control in various regions have also shown a significant imbalance as the COVID-19 epidemic is entering a new normal. The objectives of this study are to provide dynamically adjusted strategies in response to developments in the COVID-19 pandemic as a new normal. In the face of the new normal, one key is normalizing epidemic prevention and control. As part of this, we should implement precise policies based on the dynamics of the COVID-19 epidemic and particular response needs. In ongoing COVID-19 prevention and control, we must pay attention to new vulnerabilities and new features in the dynamics of the epidemic. In this study, health and government officials can benefit from insights of preparing ourselves for long-term challenges and both certainties and uncertainties in a future facing COVID-19.

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“…Air pollutants, including nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and fine particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 μm (PM 2.5 ), have been shown to be ambient anthropogenic emissions associated with acute respiratory infections and asthma cases [ 25 , 26 ]. Researchers evaluated the potential impact of decreasing NO 2 and PM 2.5 levels—which were associated with declining COVID-19 mortality trends [ 27 , 28 ]. The results revealed that chronic exposure to air pollutants delays the recovery period after COVID-19 infection and leads to more severe conditions [ 29 , 30 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Country-Level Excess All-Cause Mortality and the Impacts of Air Pollution and Human Activity during the COVID-19 Epidemic

Meng

Wong

Xing

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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The impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on cause-specific mortality has been investigated on a global scale. However, less is known about the excess all-cause mortality and air pollution-human activity responses. This study estimated the weekly excess all-cause mortality during COVID-19 and evaluated the impacts of air pollution and human activities on mortality variations during the 10th to 52nd weeks of 2020 among sixteen countries. A SARIMA model was adopted to estimate the mortality benchmark based on short-term mortality during 2015–2019 and calculate excess mortality. A quasi-likelihood Poisson-based GAM model was further applied for air pollution/human activity response evaluation, namely ground-level NO2 and PM2.5 and the visit frequencies of parks and workplaces. The findings showed that, compared with COVID-19 mortality (i.e., cause-specific mortality), excess all-cause mortality changed from −26.52% to 373.60% during the 10th to 52nd weeks across the sixteen countries examined, revealing higher excess all-cause mortality than COVID-19 mortality in most countries. For the impact of air pollution and human activities, the average country-level relative risk showed that one unit increase in weekly NO2, PM2.5, park visits and workplace visits was associated with approximately 1.54% increase and 0.19%, 0.23%, and 0.23% decrease in excess all-cause mortality, respectively. Moreover, compared with the impact on COVID-19 mortality, the relative risks of weekly NO2 and PM2.5 were lower, and the relative risks of weekly park and workplace visits were higher for excess all-cause mortality. These results suggest that the estimation based on excess all-cause mortality reduced the potential impact of air pollution and enhanced the influence of human activities compared with the estimation based on COVID-19 mortality.

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Effects of chronic exposure to ambient air pollutants on COVID-19 morbidity and mortality - A lesson from OECD countries

Cited by 30 publications

References 21 publications

Effects of chronic exposure to ambient air pollutants, demographic, and socioeconomic factors on COVID-19 morbidity: The Israeli case study

Effects of chronic exposure to ambient air pollutants, demographic, and socioeconomic factors on COVID-19 morbidity: The Israeli case study

Dynamically adjusted strategy in response to developments in the COVID-19 pandemic as a new normal

Assessing the Country-Level Excess All-Cause Mortality and the Impacts of Air Pollution and Human Activity during the COVID-19 Epidemic

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