Long-term exposure to air pollutant concentrations is known to cause chronic lung inflammation, a condition that may promote increased severity of COVID-19 syndrome caused by the novel coronavirus. In this paper, we empirically investigate the ecologic association between longterm exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) concentration and excess deaths in the first quarter of 2020 in municipalities of Northern Italian. The study accounts for potentially spatial confounding factors related to urbanization that may have influenced the spreading of the novel coronavirus. Our epidemiological analysis uses geographical information (e.g., municipalities) and Poisson regression to assess whether both ambient PM concentration and excess mortality have a similar spatial distribution. Preliminary evidence confirms the hypothesis and suggests a positive association of ambient PM on excess mortality in Northern Italy.

The effects of air pollution on COVID-19 related mortality in Northern Italy

Maria Laura Parisi
Supervision
;
Nicola Pontarollo
Formal Analysis
;
Sergio Vergalli
Project Administration
2020-01-01

Abstract

Long-term exposure to air pollutant concentrations is known to cause chronic lung inflammation, a condition that may promote increased severity of COVID-19 syndrome caused by the novel coronavirus. In this paper, we empirically investigate the ecologic association between longterm exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) concentration and excess deaths in the first quarter of 2020 in municipalities of Northern Italian. The study accounts for potentially spatial confounding factors related to urbanization that may have influenced the spreading of the novel coronavirus. Our epidemiological analysis uses geographical information (e.g., municipalities) and Poisson regression to assess whether both ambient PM concentration and excess mortality have a similar spatial distribution. Preliminary evidence confirms the hypothesis and suggests a positive association of ambient PM on excess mortality in Northern Italy.
2020
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
967-rpt-effects-pollution-v2.pdf

accesso aperto

Descrizione: Articolo principale
Tipologia: Full Text
Licenza: PUBBLICO - Pubblico con Copyright
Dimensione 299.88 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
299.88 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11379/531471
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 129
social impact