Ambient air pollution and COVID-19 risk: Evidence from 35 observational studies

• Published in: Environmental research 2022-03, Vol.204 (Pt B), p.112065-112065, Article 112065
• Main Authors: Zang, Si-Tian, Luan, Jie, Li, Ling, Yu, Hui-Xin, Wu, Qi-Jun, Chang, Qing, Zhao, Yu-Hong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: acute exposure; air; Air pollution; Air Pollution - adverse effects; air quality; chronic exposure; COVID-19; COVID-19 incidence; COVID-19 infection; COVID-19 mortality; Environmental Exposure - analysis; Humans; Meta-analysis; mortality; nitrogen dioxide; Observational study; pandemic; Particulate Matter - toxicity; particulates; pollutants; public health; risk; SARS-CoV-2; sulfur dioxide
• ISSN: 0013-9351; 1096-0953; 1096-0953
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.112065

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is severely threatening and challenging public health worldwide. Epidemiological studies focused on the influence of outdoor air pollution (AP) on COVID-19 risk have produced inconsistent conclusions. We aimed to quantitatively explore this association using a meta-analysis. We searched for studies related to outdoor AP and COVID-19 risk in the Embase, PubMed, and Web of Science databases. No language restriction was utilized. The search date entries were up to August 13, 2021. Pooled estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were obtained with random-/fixed-effects models. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42021244656. A total of 35 articles were eligible for the meta-analysis. For long-term exposure to AP, COVID-19 incidence was positively associated with 1 μg/m3 increase in nitrogen dioxide (NO2; effect size = 1.042, 95% CI 1.017–1.068), particulate matter with diameter