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ABSTRACT: Purpose
The association between air pollutant (PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and O3) concentrations and daily number of COVID-19 confirmed cases and related deaths were evaluated in three major Iranian cities (Tehran, Mashhad, and Tabriz).Methods
Hourly concentrations of air pollutants and daily number of PCR-confirmed cases and deaths of COVID-19 were acquired (February 20th, 2020 to January 4th, 2021). A generalized additive model (GAM) assuming a quasi-Poisson distribution was used to model the associations in each city up to lag-day 7 (for mortality) and 14 (for morbidity). Then, the city-specific estimates were meta-analyzed using a fixed effect model to obtain the overall relative risks (RRs).Results
A total of 114,964 confirmed cases and 21,549 deaths were recorded in these cities. For confirmed cases, exposure to PM2.5, NO2, and O3 for several lag-days showed significant associations. In case of mortality, meta-analysis estimated that the RRs for PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and O3 concentrations were 1.06 (95% CI: 0.99, 1.13), 1.06 (95% CI: 0.93, 1.19), 1.15 (95% CI: 0.93, 1.38), and 1.07 (95% CI: 0.84, 1.31), respectively. Despite several positive associations with all air pollutants over multiple lag-days, COVID-19 mortality was only significantly associated with NO2 on lag-days 0-1 and 1 with the RRs of 1.35 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.67) and 1.16 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.31), respectively.Conclusion
This study showed that air pollution can be a factor exacerbating COVID-19 infection and clinical outcomes. Actions should be taken to reduce the exposure of the public and particularly patients to ambient air pollutants.Supplementary information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40201-021-00736-4.
SUBMITTER: Hadei M
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8553398 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Hadei Mostafa M Hopke Philip K PK Shahsavani Abbas A Raeisi Alireza A Jafari Ahmad Jonidi AJ Yarahmadi Maryam M Farhadi Mohsen M Rahmatinia Masoumeh M Bazazpour Shahriar S Bandpey Anooshiravan Mohseni AM Zali Alireza A Kermani Majid M Vaziri Mohmmad Hossien MH Aghazadeh Mehrab M
Journal of environmental health science & engineering 20211028 2
<h4>Purpose</h4>The association between air pollutant (PM<sub>2.5</sub>, PM<sub>10</sub>, NO<sub>2</sub>, and O<sub>3</sub>) concentrations and daily number of COVID-19 confirmed cases and related deaths were evaluated in three major Iranian cities (Tehran, Mashhad, and Tabriz).<h4>Methods</h4>Hourly concentrations of air pollutants and daily number of PCR-confirmed cases and deaths of COVID-19 were acquired (February 20<sup>th</sup>, 2020 to January 4<sup>th</sup>, 2021). A generalized additive ...[more]