Air Pollution and COVID-19
To understand the association between long-term exposure to air pollutants and COVID-19 severity, researchers analyzed data of 151,105 people aged over 20 years with SARS-CoV-2 infection in 2020 in Ontario, Canada, and not living in a long-term care facility. Three common air pollutants before the pandemic such as fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ground-level ozone (O3) were considered for this study. The authors adjusted for date of diagnosis, sex, and age, being part of an outbreak, essential worker status, neighborhood socioeconomic status, health care access including previous influenza vaccination history, previous outpatient visits, and other factors. "We observed that people with SARS-CoV-2 infection who lived in areas of Ontario with higher levels of common air pollutants (PM2.5, NO2, and O3) were at elevated risk of being admitted to the ICU after we adjusted for individual and contextual confounding factors, even when the air pollution level was relatively low," said Dr. Hong Chen.
Air Pollution - Pollutants - Health Effect - Efforts to Reduce
Nearly 2.4 million deaths every year are attributable to air pollution. Air pollutants may be solid particles, liquid droplets or gases. Proper planning methods should be adopted to reduce air pollution.
Nearly 2.4 million deaths every year are attributable to air pollution. Air pollutants may be solid particles, liquid droplets or gases. Proper planning methods should be adopted to reduce air pollution.
‘Chronic exposure to air pollutants such as PM2.5 and O3 have a high risk of hospitalization and increased risk of death.’
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With chronic exposure to PM2.5 and O3, there is an elevated risk of hospitalization, and an increased risk of death with chronic exposure to O3.These results add to the growing reports linking air pollution to COVID-19 severity from other countries, including Spain and Mexico.
"Given the ongoing pandemic, our findings that underscore the link between chronic exposure to air pollution and more severe COVID-19 could have important implications for public health and health systems," said Dr. Hong Chen.
Breathing Dirty Air may Lead to Kidney Failure
Breathing in unclean air due to increasing air pollution could cause kidney damage with resultant kidney failure according to a recent epidemiologic study.
Breathing in unclean air due to increasing air pollution could cause kidney damage with resultant kidney failure according to a recent epidemiologic study.
Source-Medindia
