Do Air Pollution and Meteorological Variables Have a Bearing on COVID-19 Mortality? Benchmarking of Time Series between the First and Second Waves in Nine Spanish Provinces
Vol. 22 No. 1 (2022), Monograph. Originals
Vol. 22 No. 1 (2022)

Do Air Pollution and Meteorological Variables Have a Bearing on COVID-19 Mortality? Benchmarking of Time Series between the First and Second Waves in Nine Spanish Provinces

Monograph. Originals
Published 2022-06-15
Jorge Bañuelos Gimeno
Unidad de Referencia en Cambio Climático, Salud y Medio Ambiente Urbano. Escuela Nacional de Sanidad. Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, España y Departamento de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública y Microbiología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, España
Alejandro Blanco
Unidad de Referencia en Cambio Climático, Salud y Medio Ambiente Urbano. Escuela Nacional de Sanidad. Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, España
Julio Díaz
Unidad de Referencia en Cambio Climático, Salud y Medio Ambiente Urbano. Escuela Nacional de Sanidad. Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, España
Cristina Linares
Unidad de Referencia en Cambio Climático, Salud y Medio Ambiente Urbano. Escuela Nacional de Sanidad. Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, España
José A. López
Unidad de Referencia en Cambio Climático, Salud y Medio Ambiente Urbano. Escuela Nacional de Sanidad. Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, España
Miguel A. Navas
Unidad de Referencia en Cambio Climático, Salud y Medio Ambiente Urbano. Escuela Nacional de Sanidad. Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, España
Gerardo Sánchez-Martínez
The UNEP DTU Partnership, Copenhage, Dinamarca
Yolanda Luna
Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET), Madrid, España
Beatriz Hervella
Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET), Madrid, España
Fernando Belda
Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET), Madrid, España
Dante Culqui
Unidad de Referencia en Cambio Climático, Salud y Medio Ambiente Urbano. Escuela Nacional de Sanidad. Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, España
RSA 22 (1) 2022
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Keywords

COVID-19
contaminación atmosférica
variables meteorológicas
tasa de mortalidad

How to Cite

Bañuelos Gimeno, J., Blanco, A., Díaz, J., Linares, C., López, J. A., Navas, M. A., Sánchez-Martínez, G., Luna, Y., Hervella, B., Belda, F., & Culqui, D. (2022). Do Air Pollution and Meteorological Variables Have a Bearing on COVID-19 Mortality? Benchmarking of Time Series between the First and Second Waves in Nine Spanish Provinces. Spanish Journal of Environmental Health, 22(1), 100–112. Retrieved from https://ojs.diffundit.com/index.php/rsa/article/view/1142
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Abstract

Some pollutants like PM10, NO2 and O3 are detrimental to people’s health, as numerous studies have shown, and they are related to short-term and long-term mortality. A sample of 9 out of the 52 Spanish provinces was studied. Generalized linear models (GLM) with a Poisson link function were developed during the time periods corresponding to the first and second waves of the daily average values of the independent variables (PM10, NO2 and O3, as atmospheric pollutants, and meteorological variables such as the daily maximum temperature and the absolute humidity) versus the dependent variable (COVID-19 mortality rate, or CMR) during said first and second waves. Statistically significant lags between the independent variables and the dependent variable were established. The associated relative risks were calculated from the estimators obtained in the GLMs, with increases of 10 μg/m3 for atmospheric pollutants, 1°C for the maximum temperature and 1 g/m3 for the absolute humidity. The results show that NO2 has a stronger relationship with the CMR than the other air pollutants. The meteorological variables examined did not show a robust relationship between both waves, which indicates that they played a minor role in the CMR. In conclusion, air pollutants such as to NO2 and PM10 had a statistically significant relationship with the CMR, although it is limited and subordinate to other factors such as the public health measures that were taken, the presence of comorbidities and the age of the patient.

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