Air pollution linked to COVID severity

An extensive study of thousands of COVID-19 patients in Ontario hospitals found links between the severity of their infections and the levels of common air pollutants they experience.

“This adds to existing evidence that air pollution is a silent killer,” said Chen Chen, an environmental epidemiologist at the University of California and lead author of the study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

The study looked at more than 150,000 COVID-19 cases in Ontario patients in 2020. It broke out how many of those patients were admitted to hospital because of the disease, how many were transferred to intensive care units and how many died.

The researchers were able to show that more severe reactions to the virus were associated with higher levels of long-term exposure to air contaminants.

“Of those people who were already infected, we observed some of them who were exposed to higher air pollution levels prior to their infection have a higher probability of worse outcomes,” Chen said.

Chen said the study opens the door to more detailed research on the variation in COVID-19 outcomes.