High resolution mapping of nighttime light and air pollutants during the COVID-19 lockdown in Wuhan

Acute exposure to air pollution is associated with an increasing risk of death and cardiovascular disorders. Nonetheless, the impact of chronic exposure to air pollution on the circulatory system is still debated. Here, we review the links of chronic exposure to outdoor air pollution with mortality and most common cardiovascular diseases, in particular during the coronavirus disease 2019 event (COVID-19). We found that recent studies provide robust evidence for a causal effect of chronic exposure to air pollution and cardiovascular mortality. In terms of mortality, the strongest relationship was noted for fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone. There is also increasing evidence showing that exposure to air pollution, mainly fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, is associated with the development of atherosclerosis, hypertension, stroke, and heart failure. However, available scientific evidence is not strong enough to support associations with cardiac arrhythmias and coagulation disturbances. Noteworthy, for some pollutants, the risk of negative health effects is high for concentrations lower than the limit values recommended by the European Union and Word Health Organization. Efforts to diminish exposure to air pollution and to design optimal methods of air pollution reduction should be urgently intensified and supported by effective legislation and interdisciplinary cooperation.

Section: Associations Between Chronic Ambient Air Pollution and Cardi...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Links between chronic exposure to outdoor air pollution and cardiovascular diseases: a review

Konduracka

Rostoff

2022

“…With the world still waiting for an effective mass vaccination using the developed anti-COVID-19 vaccines (Costanzo et al 2021 ; He et al 2021 ) and despite the efforts by pharmaceutical companies and the scientific community to develop effective therapies through drug repurposing (Borbone et al 2021 ; Costanzo et al 2020 ; Kumawat et al 2021 ; Khan et al 2021 ), herbal medicine (Vicidomini et al 2021b ) and other recently proposed approaches (Vicidomini et al 2021a ; Wang et al 2020b ), SARS-CoV-2 and its mutations remain a major global issue leaving our future unclear. COVID-19 has also had an environmental impact on the planet, and while initial data from ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA (U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration) seemed to suggest that pollution in the first epicenters of COVID-19 such as the Hubei region of China, Italy, Spain and the USA had reduced significantly (up to 30%) (Muhammad et al 2020 ), in the subsequent phases of the pandemic, an increasing pollution trend was recorded globally (Wang et al 2020a ; Zheng et al 2021 ; Shehzad et al 2021 ). Of equal importance, there has also been an increase in plastic pollution (Gorrasi et al 2020 ; Ufnalska and Lichtfouse 2021 ) due to face masks, gloves and other single-use COVID-19-related plastics that are posing a major risk for marine ecosystems and aquatic organisms (Aragaw 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Less COVID-19 deaths in southern and insular Italy explained by forest bathing, Mediterranean environment, and antiviral plant volatile organic compounds

Roviello

2021

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is causing major sanitary and socioeconomic issues, yet some locations are less impacted than others. While densely populated areas are likely to favor viral transmission, we hypothesize that other environmental factors could explain lower cases in some areas. We studied COVID-19 impact and population statistics in highly forested Mediterranean Italian regions versus some northern regions where the amount of trees per capita is much lower. We also evaluated the affinity of Mediterranean plant-emitted volatile organic compounds (VOCs) isoprene, α-pinene, linalool and limonene for COVID-19 protein targets by molecular docking modeling. Results show that while mean death number increased about 4 times from 2020 to 2021, the percentage of deaths per population (0.06–0.10%) was lower in the greener Mediterranean regions such as Sardinia, Calabria and Basilica versus northern regions with low forest coverage, such as Lombardy (0.33%) and Emilia Romagna (0.29%). Data also show that the pandemic severity cannot be explained solely by population density. Modeling reveals that plant organic compounds could bind and interfere with the complex formed by the receptor binding domain of the coronavirus spike protein with the human cell receptor. Overall, our findings are likely explained by sea proximity and mild climate, Mediterranean diet and the abundance of non-deciduous Mediterranean plants which emit immunomodulatory and antiviral compounds. Potential implications include ‘forest bathing’ as a therapeutic practice, designing nasal sprays containing plant volatile organic compounds, and preserving and increasing forest coverage. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10311-021-01309-5.

“…Tanvir et al ( 2021 ) revealed that vertical column densities (VCDs) of formaldehyde decreased 24% during the strictest lockdown period. Although significant reductions of primary pollutants were found, ozone over eastern and northern China significantly rebounded during the lockdown (Yuan et al 2021 ; Zhao et al 2021 ; Zheng et al 2021 ; Zhu et al 2021 ). As a result, the enhanced role of secondary formation in haze formation was revealed (Chang et al 2020 ; Huang et al 2021 ; Le et al 2020 ; Meng et al 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Airborne black carbon variations during the COVID-19 lockdown in the Yangtze River Delta megacities suggest actions to curb global warming

Huang

et al. 2021

Airborne black carbon is a strong warming component of the atmosphere. Therefore, curbing black carbon emissions should slow down global warming. The 2019 coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) is a unique opportunity for studying the response of black carbon to the varied human activities, in particular due to lockdown policies. Actually, there is few knowledge on the variations of black carbon in China during lockdowns. Here, we studied the concentrations of particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and black carbon before, during, and after the lockdown in nine sites of the Yangtze River Delta in Eastern China. Results show 40–60% reduction of PM 2.5 and 40–50% reduction of black carbon during the lockdown. The classical bimodal peaks of black carbon in the morning and evening rush hours were highly weakened, indicating the substantial decrease of traffic activities. Contributions from fossil fuels combustion to black carbon decreased about 5–10% during the lockdown. Spatial correlation analysis indicated the clustering of the multi-site black carbon concentrations in the Yangtze River Delta during the lockdown. Overall, control of emissions from traffic and industrial activities should be efficient to curb black carbon levels in the frame of a ‘green public transit system’ for mega-city clusters such as the Yangtze River Delta. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10311-021-01327-3.