Coronavirus and Air Pollution - Is your city making you susceptible?

Is there a relationship between the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and air pollution? Is your city (i.e. the pollution) making you more prone to the adverse effects of this pandemic and probably risking your immunity and that of your future generations? Probably YES!

Various researchers across the world are studying the effects of Particulate Matter (PM) in spreading the epidemic. Using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) experiments, they have determined the concentration of PM2.5 and PM10 linked to COVID-19-related deaths. The underlying hypothesis of this theory is that a pre-determined particulate concentration can foster COVID-19 and make the respiratory system more susceptible to this infection. They are identifying the sectors that are the main emitter of Particulate Matter (PMs) whose critical levels induce harmful health effects for urban inhabitants.

Fine particulate matter can increase the levels of inflammation in a person’s body, potentially raising the risk of some lung diseases, as well as giving the blood a higher tendency to clot. 

In combination with a viral infection, these inflammatory factors can lead to a serious progression of the disease. Inflammation also promotes the attachment of the virus to cells.

We know that air pollution can cause health problems, like heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and high blood pressure. These problems have been identified as pre-existing medical conditions that raise the chances of death from COVID-19 infection. Emerging research, including a study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, finds that breathing more polluted air over many years may itself worsen the effects of COVID-19. While the study does not show that air pollution directly affects an individual’s likelihood of dying from COVID-19 because individual-level COVID data is not yet publicly available, it does show an association between long-term exposure to air pollution and higher COVID-19 mortality rates.

The Harvard study is one of several studies that suggest air pollution is affecting COVID-19 mortality. Researchers found a significant relationship between air pollution and coronavirus deaths across 66 regions in Italy, Spain, France and Germany, 78% of them occurred in five of the most polluted regions. There’s also evidence from previous outbreaks like SARS, which was also a coronavirus, as well as many other respiratory infections including influenza, that breathing more polluted air increased risks of death. Read More.

A study collected data from 25 cities in India, reported a direct relationship between the concentration of PM2.5 and COVID-19 mortality.  The growth of towns and the consequent need for more supplies have damaged the delicate environment of India, where there are high levels of smog, fine dust, and water pollution. Air contamination in India has expanded quickly with the increasing population, increasing number of vehicles, increasing energy utilization, poor transportation framework, poor land use, industrialization and especially with the inadequate environmental guidelines. More similar studies are mentioned in the references below. It is clear that exposure to air pollution increases vulnerability and has harmful effects on the prognosis of patients affected by COVID-19 infections.

It has become more important than ever to reduce the ever-increasing burden on the metro cities of developing or developed countries and to analyze the effect that it is having on the nation as a whole. It also brings in opportunities to explore how an effective and robust system can be built in the TIER-2 and TIER-3 cities for future development activities. This analysis can be looked upon in many ways and different strategies can be formed based on the recent spike in cases.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments and also the solutions and strategies that can be built upon.

References for detailed reading:

1.The Effects of Air Pollution on COVID-19 Infection and Mortality—A Review on Recent Evidence

2. Pollution, economic growth, and COVID-19 deaths in India: a machine learning evidence

3. The relationship between air pollution and COVID-19-related deaths: An application to three French cities

Others:

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Air pollution and case fatality of SARS in the People's Republic of China: an ecologic study. Environ Health. (2003) 2:15. 10.1186/1476-069X-2-15 [PMC free article] [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

Does air pollution influence COVID-19 outbreaks? Atmosphere. (2020) 11:377 10.3390/atmos11040377 [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

Higher virulence of COVID-19 in the air-polluted regions of eight severely affected countries. Epidemiology. (2020). 10.1101/2020.04.30.20086496 [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

Estimates and 25-year trends of the global burden of disease attributable to ambient air pollution: an analysis of data from the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2015. Lancet. (2017) 389:1907–18. 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30505-6 [PMC free article] [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

Air pollution and COVID-19: the role of particulate matter in the spread and increase of COVID-19's morbidity and mortality. IJERPH. (2020) 17:4487. 10.3390/ijerph17124487 [PMC free article] [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

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