A survey on the correlation between PM2.5 concentration and the incidence of suspected and positive cases of COVID-19 referred to medical centers: A case study of Tehran

Fallah Hashemi; Lori Hoepner; Farahnaz Soleimani Hamidinejad; Alireza Abbasi; Sima Afrashteh; Mohammad Hoseini

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134650

A survey on the correlation between PM_2.5 concentration and the incidence of suspected and positive cases of COVID-19 referred to medical centers: A case study of Tehran

Chemosphere. 2022 Aug:301:134650. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134650. Epub 2022 Apr 19.

Authors

Fallah Hashemi¹, Lori Hoepner², Farahnaz Soleimani Hamidinejad³, Alireza Abbasi⁴, Sima Afrashteh⁵, Mohammad Hoseini⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Electronic address: info.foo@gmail.com.
² Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA. Electronic address: lori.hoepner@downstate.edu.
³ Department of Medicine, O.O. Bogomolets National Medical University, Kyiv, Ukraine; Department of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: solfarahnaz@gmail.com.
⁴ Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Electronic address: alireza.abasi1986@gmail.com.
⁵ Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Public Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Electronic address: sima.afrashte3@gmail.com.
⁶ Research Center for Health Sciences, Institute of Health, Department of Environmental Health, School of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Electronic address: mohhoseini@sums.ac.ir.

Abstract

COVID-19, one of the greatest health challenges of the present century, has infected millions of people and caused more than 6 million deaths worldwide. The causative agent of this disease is the new virus SARS-CoV-2; which continues to spread globally and sometimes with new and more complex aspects than before. The present study is an observational study aimed to investigate the role of AQI; PM_2.5 and its relationship with the incidence of suspected cases (SC) and positive cases (PC) of COVID-19 at different levels of the air quality index (AQI) in Tehran, the capital of Iran in the period from Feb 20th, 2020 to Feb 22nd, 2021. Data on AQI were collected online from the air monitoring website of Air Quality Control Company under the supervision of Tehran Municipality. The data on suspected and positive cases were obtained from the Iranian Ministry of Health. The results and statistical analysis (Pearson correlation test) showed that with the increase of AQI level, the number of suspected cases (SC) and positive cases (PC), also increased (P-value<0.01). The average daily number of suspected and positive COVID-19 cases referred to medical centers, at different levels of the AQI was as follows: level II: yellow, moderate (SC: N_ave = 466; PC: N_ave = 223), level III: orange, unhealthy for sensitive groups (SC: N_ave = 564; PC: N_ave = 275), and Level IV: red, unhealthy (SC: N_ave = 558; PC: N_ave = 294). The results of the GEE for seasonal comparison (winter as reference season), showed that there is an epidemiological pattern in autumn with colder weather compared to other seasons in both suspected (Cl: %95, B = 408.94) and positive (Cl: %95, B = 83.42) cases of COVID-19. The results of this study will serve policymakers as an informative tool for guidance on the importance of the role of air pollution in viral epidemics.

Keywords: AQI; COVID-19; PM(2.5); Suspected and positive cases.

Publication types

Observational Study

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / analysis
Air Pollution* / analysis
COVID-19* / epidemiology
Humans
Incidence
Iran / epidemiology
Particulate Matter / analysis
SARS-CoV-2

Substances

Air Pollutants
Particulate Matter