Air pollution, a persistent problem around the world, is known to cause lung diseases, and existing lung diseases are known to exacerbate COVID. According to new research reported on by The Guardian, air pollution has been shown to be a significant factor for dying from COVID – increasing the risk of death by 11%.
The gold standard for assessing an association between COVID and air pollution would be getting a large enough sample of participants and acquiring personal details so that their age, smoking history and other details can be taken into account. However, such levels of individual details are not yet available, so researchers are looking to group studies to provide the data, albeit at reduced quality. Hundreds of group studies are awaiting review, but the evidence so far appears compelling.
Prof Francesca Dominici at Harvard University, the research leader says that there is definitely enough evidence to act on already. “We already have an overwhelming amount of evidence of the adverse health effects of fine particle pollution, so even without Covid, we should implement more stringent regulation. But the amount of [Covid-related] evidence is also big enough now that there is absolutely nothing to lose, and only benefits, to prioritise some of the more vulnerable areas.”
Efforts to help mitigate the effect of air pollution on potential COVID patients could include air pollution reduction measures and distributing PPE in priority areas.
