The impact of air pollution on the incidence and mortality of COVID-19
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(2020) 5:39
Global Health Research and Policy
COMMENTARY
Open Access
The impact of air pollution on the incidence and mortality of COVID-19 Abhinav Karan, Kabeer Ali, Surujpal Teelucksingh and Sateesh Sakhamuri*
Abstract Air pollution is the most significant environmental risk factor for all-cause mortality, and it has caused substantial disability-adjusted life-years and economic loss. Air pollution intensified the mortality during past pandemics, Spanish flu in 1918 and SARS-CoV-1 in 2003. It increases host susceptibility and virulence of respiratory infections and reduces viral clearance. Thus, a question arises whether there will be any impact of air pollution on the current pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)? Thus far, history and science are directing towards an immense potential impact of air pollution on the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the devastated countries with the current pandemic are those with a poor air quality index. Further epidemiological and ecological studies are necessary to confirm this association. Also, countries must mobilize funding for mitigation of air pollution to benefit environmental health and ameliorate its potential effects on pandemics of the future. Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV 2, Air pollution, Particulate matter, Household air pollution
Background The world is currently gripped in a planetary health crisis, expected to cause at least 4.2 million deaths this year; that of atmospheric pollution. Polluted air is the most significant environmental risk factor for all-cause mortality. It has increased the risk of cancer, chronic pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases, and caused the loss of at least 100 million disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) and US$225 billion annually [1]. In the midst of our unprecedented coronavirus pandemic, the morbidity posed by air pollution and its impact on our current situation must not be forgotten. Mortality from air pollution, especially during pandemics, cannot be understated. The devastating 1918 Spanish Influenza Pandemic saw a 10% increase in mortality in large coal-capacity cities. During the first pandemic of the current century, severe acute respiratory syndromeassociated coronavirus-1 (SARS-CoV-1) in 2003, patients from areas with high air pollution indices (API) displayed a 200% increased relative risk of death compared to people from areas with a low API [2]. Despite this, 91% of the * Correspondence: [email protected] Department of Clinical Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
world’s population lives in areas exceeding the recommended World Health Organization (WHO) air quality limits. Thus, a question arises whether there will be any impact of air pollution on the current pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)?
Effect of air pollutants on host susceptibility to infection Air pollutants increase host susceptibility to respiratory viral infections by increasing epithelial permeability to viral recept
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