An ecological analysis of long-term exposure to PM_2.5 and incidence of COVID-19 in Canadian health regions.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Ambient fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) is associated with a wide range of acute and chronic health effects, including increased risk of respiratory infection. However, evidence specifically related to novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is limited.

Methods

COVID-19 case counts for 111 Canadian health regions were obtained from the COVID-19 Canada Open Data portal. Annual PM_2.5 data for 2000-2016 were estimated from a national exposure surface based on remote sensing, chemical transport modelling and ground observations, and minimum and maximum temperature data for 2000-2015 were based on a national interpolated surface derived from thin-plate smoothing splines. Population counts and sociodemographic data by health region were obtained from

SUBMITTER: Stieb DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7448873 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature