Title
Environmental and climatic impact on the infection and mortality of SARS-CoV-2 in Peru
Date Issued
01 September 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Publisher(s)
Walter de Gruyter
Abstract
Objectives: The role of the environment and climate in the transmission and case fatality rates of SARS-CoV-2 is still being investigated a year into the pandemic. Elevation and air quality are believed to be significant factors in the development of the pandemic, but the influence of additional environmental factors remains unclear. Methods: We explored the relationship between the cumulative number of infections and mortality cases with climate (temperature, precipitation, solar radiation, water vapor pressure, wind), environmental data (elevation, normalized difference vegetation index or NDVI, particulate matter at 2.5 μm or PM2.5 and NO2 concentration), and population density in Peru. We use confirmed cases of infection from 1,287 districts and mortality in 479 districts, we used Spearman's correlations to assess the bivariate correlation between environmental and climatic factors with cumulative infection cases, cumulative mortality and case-fatality rate. We explored district cases within the ecozones of coast, sierra, high montane forest and lowland rainforest. Results: Multiple linear regression models indicate elevation, mean solar radiation, air quality, population density and green vegetation cover, as a socioeconomic proxy, are influential factors in the distribution of infection and mortality of SARS-CoV-2 in Peru. Case-fatality rate was weakly associated with elevation. Conclusions: Our results also strongly suggest that exposure to poor air quality is a significant factor in the mortality of individuals below the age of 30. We conclude that environmental and climatic factors do play a significant role in the transmission and case fatality rates in Peru, however further study is required to see if these relationships are maintained over time.
Start page
935
End page
942
Volume
32
Issue
5
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Epidemiología Salud pública, Salud ambiental
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85107229088
PubMed ID
Source
Journal of Basic and Clinical Physiology and Pharmacology
ISSN of the container
07926855
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus