Association between short-term exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 mortality in all German districts: the importance of confounders.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The focus of many studies is to estimate the effect of risk factors on outcomes, yet results may be dependent on the choice of other risk factors or potential confounders to include in a statistical model. For complex and unexplored systems, such as the COVID-19 spreading process, where a priori knowledge of potential confounders is lacking, data-driven empirical variable selection methods may be primarily utilized. Published studies often lack a sensitivity analysis as to how results depend on the choice of confounders in the model. This study showed variability in associations of short-term air pollution with COVID-19 mortality in Germany under multiple approaches accounting for confounders in statistical models.

Methods

Associations between air pollution variab

SUBMITTER: Miller G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9418649 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature