Title
Association between air pollution in Lima and the high incidence of COVID-19: findings from a post hoc analysis
Date Issued
01 December 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Vasquez-Apestegui B.V.
Parras-Garrido E.
Paz-Aparicio V.M.
Rojas J.P.
Sanchez-Ccoyllo O.R.
Publisher(s)
BioMed Central Ltd
Abstract
Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) originated in the People’s Republic of China in December 2019. Thereafter, a global logarithmic expansion of cases occurred. Some countries have a higher rate of infections despite the early implementation of quarantine. Air pollution might be related to high susceptibility to the virus and associated case fatality rates (deaths/cases*100). Lima, Peru, has the second highest incidence of COVID-19 in Latin America and also has one the highest levels of air pollution in the region. Methods: This study investigated the association of levels of PM2.5 exposure in previous years (2010–2016) in 24 districts of Lima with cases, deaths and case fatality rates for COVID-19. Multiple linear regression was used to evaluate this association controlled by age, sex, population density and number of food markets per district. The study period was from March 6 to June 12, 2020. Results: There were 128,700 cases in Lima and 2382 deaths due to COVID-19. The case fatality rate was 1.93%. Previous exposure to PM2.5 (2010—2016) was associated with the number of COVID-19- cases (β = 0.07; 95% CI: 0.034–0.107) and deaths (β = 0.0014; 95% CI: 0.0006–0.0.0023) but not with the case fatality rate. Conclusions: After adjusting for age, sex and number of food markets, the higher rates of COVID-19 in Metropolitan Lima are attributable to the increased PM2.5 exposure in the previous years, among other reasons. Reduction in air pollution from a long-term perspective and social distancing are needed to prevent the spread of virus outbreaks.
Volume
21
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Virología
Enfermedades infecciosas
Ciencias del medio ambiente
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85108176631
PubMed ID
Source
BMC Public Health
ISSN of the container
14712458
Sponsor(s)
Bertha V. Vasquez-Apestegui, Vilma Tapia, Valeria M. Paz-Aparicio, Odon R. Sanchez-Ccoyllo and Gustavo F. Gonzales are supported by Grant U01TW010107 (1/2 Regional GEOHealth hub centered in Peru) from the National Institutes of Health (Fogarty Program). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
We thank our colleagues at the Ministry of the Environment (MINAM/SENAMHI) for their collaboration throughout this project.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Servicio Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología del Perú
Scopus