SynthesisEnvironmental health : a global access science source2021
Acute and chronic exposure to air pollution in relation with incidence, prevalence, severity and mortality of COVID-19: a rapid systematic review.
Synthesis in Environmental health : a global access science source, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 75 citations in OpenAlex.
- Particulate matter air pollution and COVID-19 infection, severity, and mortality: A systematic review and meta-analysis.The Science of the total environment · 2023Pooled it
- The impact of air pollution on COVID-19 incidence, severity, and mortality: A systematic review of studies in Europe and North America.Environmental research · 2022Pooled it
- Article
- Development and External Validation of a Prognostic Prediction Model for Hospitalization in SARS-CoV-2-Infected Ambulatory Patients.Open forum infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Ambient Air Pollution and COVID-19 in California.Research report (Health Effects Institute) · 2026Article
- Consideration of Cardiovascular Morbidities in the Relationship between Ambient Air Pollution Exposure and Individual-Level Adverse COVID-19 Outcomes: A Systematic Review.Current epidemiology reports · 2025Article
- REACH-OUT: Race, Ethnicity, and Air Pollution in COVID-19 Hospitalization OUTcomes.Research report (Health Effects Institute) · 2025Article
- Modulation of COVID-19 incidence by environmental stressors is variant between pre-Omicron and Omicron periods.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- COVID-19 and its association with meteorological, climate, and environmental factors: A systematic review.Journal of public health research · 2025Review
- Effects of Long-Term Air Pollution Exposure on Disease Outcomes and Hybrid Immune Responses in SARS-CoV-2 Breakthrough Infections: A Study of the Yichang COVID-19 Antibody Longitudinal Survey (YC-CALS) in China.Environmental health perspectives · 2025Article
- Article
- Prepared for the polycrisis? The need for complexity science and systems thinking to address global and national evidence gaps.BMJ global health · 2024Review
- Air Pollution in Relation to COVID-19 Morbidity and Mortality: A Large Population-Based Cohort Study in Catalonia, Spain (COVAIR-CAT).Research report (Health Effects Institute) · 2024Article
- The Association between Exposure to Fine Particulate Air Pollution and the Trajectory of Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors during Late Childhood and Early Adolescence: Evidence from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study.Environmental health perspectives · 2024Article
- Correlation between Exposure to UFP and ACE/ACE2 Pathway: Looking for Possible Involvement in COVID-19 Pandemic.Toxics · 2024Article
- Article
- Household air pollution and risk of pulmonary tuberculosis in HIV-Infected adults.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2024Article
- Indirect Effects of PMAnnals of global health · 2024Article
- Long-Term Exposure to AIR Pollution and COVID-19 Mortality and Morbidity in DENmark: Who Is Most Susceptible? (AIRCODEN).Research report (Health Effects Institute) · 2023Article
- Household Air Pollution and Risk of Pulmonary Tuberculosis in HIV-Infected Adults.Research square · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 6 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAir pollution is one of the world's leading mortality risk factors contributing to seven million deaths annually. COVID-19 pandemic has claimed about one million deaths in less than a year. However, it is unclear whether exposure to acute and chronic air pollution influences the COVID-19 epidemiologic curve.
methodsWe searched for relevant studies listed in six electronic databases between December 2019 and September 2020. We applied no language or publication status limits. Studies presented as original articles, studies that assessed risk, incidence, prevalence, or lethality of COVID-19 in relation with exposure to either short-term or long-term exposure to ambient air pollution were included. All patients regardless of age, sex and location diagnosed as having COVID-19 of any severity were taken into consideration. We synthesised results using harvest plots based on effect direction.
resultsIncluded studies were cross-sectional (n = 10), retrospective cohorts (n = 9), ecological (n = 6 of which two were time-series) and hypothesis (n = 1). Of these studies, 52 and 48% assessed the effect of short-term and long-term pollutant exposure, respectively and one evaluated both. Pollutants mostly studied were PM
conclusionThe body of evidence indicates that both acute and chronic exposure to air pollution can affect COVID-19 epidemiology. The evidence is unclear for acute exposure due to a higher level of bias in existing studies as compared to moderate evidence with chronic exposure. Public health interventions that help minimize anthropogenic pollutant source and socio-economic injustice/disparities may reduce the planetary threat posed by both COVID-19 and air pollution pandemics.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.