Association between short-term exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 infection: Evidence from China

Abstract

The novel coronavirus pneumonia, namely COVID-19, has become a global public health problem. Previous studies have found that air pollution is a risk factor for respiratory infection by carrying microorganisms and affecting body's immunity. This study aimed to explore the relationship between ambient air pollutants and the infection caused by the novel coronavirus. Daily confirmed cases, air pollution concentration and meteorological variables in 120 cities were obtained from January 23, 2020 to February 29, 2020 in China. We applied a generalized additive model to investigate the associations of six air pollutants (PM _2.5, PM ₁₀, SO ₂, CO, NO ₂ and O ₃) with COVID-19 confirmed cases. We observed significantly positive associations of PM _2.5, PM ₁₀, NO ₂ and O ₃ in the last two weeks with newly COVID-19 confirmed cases. A 10-μg/m ³ increase (lag0–14) in PM _2.5, PM ₁₀, NO ₂, and O ₃ was associated with a 2.24% (95% CI: 1.02 to 3.46), 1.76% (95% CI: 0.89 to 2.63), 6.94% (95% CI: 2.38 to 11.51), and 4.76% (95% CI: 1.99 to 7.52) increase in the daily counts of confirmed cases, respectively. However, a 10-μg/m ³ increase (lag0–14) in SO ₂ was associated with a 7.79% decrease (95% CI: −14.57 to −1.01) in COVID-19 confirmed cases. Our results indicate that there is a significant relationship between air pollution and COVID-19 infection, which could partially explain the effect of national lockdown and provide implications for the control and prevention of this novel disease.

Graphical abstract

Highlights

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  There was a significant relationship between air pollution and COVID-19 infection after controlling for confounding factors.

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  Positive associations of PM _2.5, PM ₁₀, CO, NO ₂ and O ₃ with COVID-19 confirmed cases were observed.

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  However, SO ₂ was negatively associated with the number of daily COVID-19 confirmed cases.