Air pollution aggravating COVID-19 lethality? Exploration in Asian cities using statistical models

• Published in: Environment, development and sustainability Vol. 23; no. 4; pp. 6408 - 6417
• Main Authors: Gupta, Ankit, Bherwani, Hemant, Gautam, Sneha, Anjum, Saima, Musugu, Kavya, Kumar, Narendra, Anshul, Avneesh, Kumar, Rakesh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.04.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: aerodynamics; Air; Air pollution; Coronaviridae; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 infection; death; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Economic Geology; Economic Growth; Environment; Environmental and sustainability aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic; Environmental Economics; Environmental Management; Government agencies; Health promotion; Immunity; Lethality; Masks; Mathematical models; Mortality; Mortality rates; Particulate matter; Policy making; Regression analysis; Regression models; risk; Severe acute respiratory syndrome; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Statistical analysis; Statistical models; Sustainable Development; Variance analysis; Viral diseases; COVID-19; Air pollution; SARS-CoV-2; Coronavirus; Linear regression; PM
• ISSN: 1387-585X; 1573-2975; 1573-2975
• DOI: 10.1007/s10668-020-00878-9

The present work estimates the increased risk of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 by establishing the linkage between the mortality rate in the infected cases and the air pollution, specifically Particulate Matters (PM) with aerodynamic diameters ≤ 10 µm and ≤ 2.5 µm. Data related to nine Asian cities are analyzed using statistical approaches, including the analysis of variance and regression model. The present work suggests that there exists a positive correlation between the level of air pollution of a region and the lethality related to COVID-19, indicating air pollution to be an elemental and concealed factor in aggravating the global burden of deaths related to COVID-19. Past exposures to high level of PM 2.5 over a long period, is found to significantly correlate with present COVID-19 mortality per unit reported cases ( p  < 0.05) compared to PM 10 , with non-significant correlation ( p  = 0.118). The finding of the study can help government agencies, health ministries and policymakers globally to take proactive steps by promoting immunity-boosting supplements and appropriate masks to reduce the risks associated with COVID-19 in highly polluted areas.