Air pollution and meteorology as risk factors for COVID-19 death in a cohort from Southern California.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Recent evidence links ambient air pollution to COVID-19 incidence, severity, and death, but few studies have analyzed individual-level mortality data with high quality exposure models.

Methods

We sought to assess whether higher air pollution exposures led to greater risk of death during or after hospitalization in confirmed COVID-19 cases among patients who were members of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) healthcare system (N=21,415 between 06-01-2020 and 01-31-2022 of whom 99.85 % were unvaccinated during the study period). We used 1 km resolution chemical transport models to estimate ambient concentrations of several common air pollutants, including ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and fine particle matter (PM_2.5). We also derived estimates of

SUBMITTER: Jerrett M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9715495 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature