Washington U.S. January 15 ANI Long term exposure to ambient air pollution may increase the risk of COVID 19 infection, according to recent research.
It was the association's strongest for particulate matter, with an average annual raise of 1 ug m 3 linked to a 5 per cent increase in the infection rate. According to the findings, an extra 294 cases 100,000 people a year is needed to live in a northern Italian city.
Further research is needed to confirm cause and effect, but the findings should strengthen efforts to reduce air pollution, according to the researchers.
Northern Italy has been hit hard by the coronaviruses, with Lombardy being the worst affected region in terms of both cases and deaths. There are a number of reasons that have been suggested for this, including different testing strategies and demographics.
The European Union Environmental Agency estimates that 3.9 million Europeans in areas where air pollution exceeds European limits live in Northern Italy.
Recent research has implicated airborne pollution as a risk factor for COVID 19 infection, but study design flaws and data capture are only limited to mid- 2020, according to the researchers.
The residents of Varese, the eighth-largest city in Lombardy, looked at long term exposure to airborne pollutants and patterns of COVID-19 infection from the start of the epidemic to March 2021 to get around these issues.
More than 97 per cent of the 81,543 residents were residents as of 31 December 2017
There were successfully linked to the 2018 annual average exposure levels for the main air pollutants based on home address.
Regional COVID 19 infection data and information on hospital discharge and outpatient drug prescriptions were gathered for 62,848 adults who have yet to be infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID 19 at the end of 2019 until the end of March 2021.
The figures show that only 3.5 per cent of the population in the whole region was fully vaccinated by the end of March 2021.
Estimates of annual and seasonal average levels of five airborne pollutants were released.
For 2018, there are more than 40 km of particulate matter PM 2.5, PM 10 nitrogen dioxide NO 2 nitric oxide NO and ozone o 3 The average PM 2.5 and NO 2 values were 12.5 and 20.1 ug m 3, respectively. For the same year, the corresponding population-weighted average annual exposures in Italy were 15.5 and 20.1 ug m 3, respectively.
Some 4408 new COVID 19 cases, registered between 25 February 2020 and March 13, 2021, were included in the study. The population of the United States has a rate of 6005 cases a year.
The population density was not associated with a higher risk of infection. There was a more than 10 fold heightened risk of the infection when living in a residential care home.
Drug treatment for diabetes, high blood pressure, and obstructive airway diseases, as well as a history of stroke, was also associated with heightened risk, as well as a 17 per cent, 12 per cent, 17 per cent, and 29 per cent.
After accounting for age, gender, and care home residency, plus concurrent long term long term residency, the accounting for age, gender, and care home residency is completed.
Both PM 2.5 and PM 10 were significantly associated with an increase in the averages.
The infection rate of COVID 19 was increased.
Every 1 ug m 3 increase in long term exposure to PM 2.5 was associated with a 5 per cent increase in the number of new cases of COVID 19 infection, equivalent to 294 extra cases per 100,000 of the population year.
Similar results were found by applying seasonal rather than annual averages, and these findings were further confirmed in further analyses that excluded care home residents and adjusted for local levels of deprivation and use of public transport. Similar findings were observed for PM 10, NO 2 and NO.
The observed associations were even more noticeable among older age groups.
The researchers suggest that there is a stronger effect of pollutants on the COVID 19 infection rate among 55 64 and 65 74 year-olds.
This is an observational study and can't establish cause. And although they were not really bad at all, they were still good at it.
Researchers looked at various potentially influential factors, but they weren't able to account for mobility, social interaction, humidity, temperature and certain underlying conditions, such as mental ill-health and kidney disease.
Long term exposure to air pollution increases the risk of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases due to persistent inflammation and compromised immunity. The researchers suggest that these same pathways may be involved in the link between air pollution and higher COVID 19 infection rates.
Our findings provide the first solid empirical evidence for the hypothesised pathway.
There is a correlation between long-term exposure to air pollution and the incidence of air pollution.