Urban Air Pollution May Enhance COVID-19 Case-Fatality and Mortality Rates in the United States.

ABSTRACT: The novel human coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has claimed more than 240,000 lives worldwide, causing tremendous public health, social, and economic damages. While the risk factors of COVID-19 are still under investigation, environmental factors, such as urban air pollution, may play an important role in increasing population susceptibility to COVID-19 pathogenesis. We conducted a cross-sectional nationwide study using zero-inflated negative binomial models to estimate the association between long-term (2010-2016) county-level exposures to NO2, PM2.5 and O3 and county-level COVID-19 case-fatality and mortality rates in the US. We used both single and multipollutant models and controlled for spatial trends and a comprehensive set of potential confounders, including state-level

SUBMITTER: Liang D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7273261 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature