The Effects of Air Pollution on COVID-19 Related Mortality in Northern Italy

Coker, Eric S.; Cavalli, Laura; Fabrizi, Enrico; Guastella, Gianni; Lippo, Enrico; Parisi, Maria Laura; Pontarollo, Nicola; Rizzati, Massimiliano; Varacca, Alessandro; Vergalli, Sergio

doi:10.1007/s10640-020-00486-1

Cited by 169 publications

(109 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…The second group’s variables concerned air pollutants, regarding PM 10 and PM 2.5 . Indeed, considering the complexity due to the big amount of air pollutants, in this analysis we chose to focus on those with harmful effects on human health in terms of chronic health effects (that are consistent with [ 39 , 40 ]). So, in this analysis the average annual values of daily concentration (µg/m 3 ) of PM 2.5 and PM 10 particles were considered as independent variables.…”

Section: The Case Study and The Methodology Proposedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, as suggested by Coker et al [ 39 ], several control variables have been introduced that may plausibly have effects on the hospitalization rate for each province, including population density/average age of population/ratio between the number of residents older than 40, 50 and 60 years old and the amount of residents/percentage of women/percentage of men/ratio between the public green space and the residents on each province/ratio between workers and residents.…”

Section: The Case Study and The Methodology Proposedmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Effects of Air Pollution, Sea Exposure and Altitude on COVID-19 Hospitalization Rates in Italy

Cascetta

Henke

Francesco

2021

IJERPH

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Early known cases of COVID-19 emerged in late 2019 in the city of Wuhan (China) and in a relatively short time, it has reached more than 200 countries up to July 2020. In Italy, from 21 February 2020, (first official Italian positive case of COVID-19) until 27 July 2020, 246,286 confirmed cases were observed of which over 68,150 (28%) needed hospitalization and 35,112 died. In recent scientific research, it has been shown that the severity of symptoms and mortality rates were different not only among the various countries of the world but also in different regions of the same country. This research investigates whether and by how much air environmental conditions (such as exposure to fine particulate matter-PM2.5, sea air masses and altitude) influences the risk of hospitalization due to COVID-19 in Italy, once the spreading of the virus and the percentage of the elderly in the population have been accounted for. A log-linear multiple regression model was estimated where the log of the ratio of hospitalized patients per inhabitant, since the beginning of the epidemic up to July 27, has been considered as a dependent variable. Among the independent variables, the ones that have been taken into account are the spreading of the virus, the rate of people over 50 years of age, the concentration of PM2.5, the rate of population living by the sea, the rate of green public space for each resident and the ratio of population living at a high altitude. The results showed an increase in the hospitalization rate in terms of the percentage of people over 50 and the average concentration of PM2.5. If average limits of PM2.5 concentration allowed by the current European regulations (25 µg/m3) were respected in all Italian provinces, that would have led to 7339 less hospitalizations for COVID-19 (−11%). On the contrary, near the coast there were lower hospitalized cases in the referred period. In the hypothetical case that no Italians lived near the sea, about 1363 (+2%) more hospitalizations would have been recorded in the analysis period in addition to the effect of a lower PM concentration. This paper wanted to investigate which are the areas with a higher risk of hospitalization in Italy, so as to help the Italian Government to strengthen Health System measures, predicting the most suffering areas and health care systems. According to the results, this is directly related to the severity of symptoms which decreased with the long-time exposure to the sea.

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Section: The Case Study and The Methodology Proposedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Case Study and The Methodology Proposedmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Air Pollution, Sea Exposure and Altitude on COVID-19 Hospitalization Rates in Italy

Cascetta

Henke

Francesco

2021

IJERPH

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“…Another study in Italy reported a positive association between ambient PM 2.5 concentration and excess COVID-19 related mortality (38). A one-unit increase in PM 2.5 concentration (µg/m3) was associated with a 9% increase in the COVID-19 related fatality (38). In Peru, the higher rates of spread of COVID-19 in Lima were associated with the previous longterm PM 2.5 exposure (41).…”

Section: Long-term Exposure To Air Pollution and Covid-19mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Warm-season may not have a role in spreading viral infection (35). Another study in Italy reported a positive association between ambient PM 2.5 concentration and excess COVID-19 related mortality (38). A one-unit increase in PM 2.5 concentration (µg/m3) was associated with a 9% increase in the COVID-19 related fatality (38).…”

Section: Long-term Exposure To Air Pollution and Covid-19mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Air Pollution on COVID-19 Infection and Mortality—A Review on Recent Evidence

Ali

Islam

2020

Front. Public Health

157

120

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The outbreak of COVID-19 has created a serious public health concern worldwide. Although, most of the regions around the globe have been affected by COVID-19 infections; some regions are more badly affected in terms of infections and fatality rates than others. The exact reasons for such variations are not clear yet. This review discussed the possible effects of air pollution on COVID-19 infections and mortality based on some recent evidence. The findings of most studies reviewed here demonstrate that both short-term and long-term exposure to air pollution especially PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) may contribute significantly to higher rates of COVID-19 infections and mortalities with a lesser extent also PM10. A significant correlation has been found between air pollution and COVID-19 infections and mortality in some countries in the world. The available data also indicate that exposure to air pollution may influence COVID-19 transmission. Moreover, exposure to air pollution may increase vulnerability and have harmful effects on the prognosis of patients affected by COVID-19 infections. Further research should be conducted considering some potential confounders such as age and pre-existing medical conditions along with exposure to NO2, PM2.5 and other air pollutants to confirm their detrimental effects on mortalities from COVID-19.

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“…Air pollution is a global health concern and numerous studies have found links between air pollution and both respiratory and chronic diseases [1,2,3,4]. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, several studies have found links between air pollution and COVID-19 incidence and mortality [5,6,7,8,9]. The present study aims at determining whether there is a link between air pollution and COVID-19 deaths at the municipality level in Sweden.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Positive correlation between long term emission of several air pollutants and COVID-19 deaths in Sweden

Helander¹

2020

Preprint

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Several recent studies have found troubling links between air pollution and both incidence and mortality of COVID-19, the pandemic disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. Here, we investigate whether such a link can be found also in Sweden, a country with low population density and a relatively good air quality in general, with low background levels of important pollutants such as PM2.5 and NO2. The investigation is carried out by relating normalized emission levels of several air pollutants to normalized COVID-19 deaths at the municipality level, after applying a sieve function using an empirically determined threshold value to filter out noise. We find a fairly strong correlation for PM2.5, PM10 and SO2, and a moderate one for NOx. We find no correlation neither for CO, nor (as expected) for CO2. Our results are statistically significant and the calculations are simple and easily verifiable. Since the study considers only emission levels of air pollutants and not measurements of air quality, climatic and meteorological factors (such as average wind speeds) can trivially be ruled out as confounders. Finally, we also show that although there are small positive correlations between population density and COVID-19 deaths in the studied municipalities (which are for the most part rural and non densely populated) they are either weak or not statistically significant.

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The Effects of Air Pollution on COVID-19 Related Mortality in Northern Italy

Cited by 169 publications

References 41 publications

The Effects of Air Pollution, Sea Exposure and Altitude on COVID-19 Hospitalization Rates in Italy

The Effects of Air Pollution, Sea Exposure and Altitude on COVID-19 Hospitalization Rates in Italy

The Effects of Air Pollution on COVID-19 Infection and Mortality—A Review on Recent Evidence

Positive correlation between long term emission of several air pollutants and COVID-19 deaths in Sweden

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