ArticleEnvironmental chemistry letters2022
Less COVID-19 deaths in southern and insular Italy explained by forest bathing, Mediterranean environment, and antiviral plant volatile organic compounds.
Article in Environmental chemistry letters, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 64 citations in OpenAlex.
- Does Forest Therapy Have Physio-Psychological Benefits? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Long-Term Effects of Mountain Hiking vs. Forest Therapy on Physical and Mental Health of Couples: A Randomized Controlled Trial.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Trial
- Forest Bathing (Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- How 'forest bathing' keeps lungs healthy.Nature · 2026Article
- Does land cover affect the growth rate of COVID-19? Rethinking sustainable habitat from the One Health perspective using data from 12 cities during lockdown in Hubei Province, China.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Eucalyptus Oils Phytochemical Composition in Correlation with Their Newly Explored Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Potential: in Vitro and in Silico Approaches.Plant foods for human nutrition (Dordrecht, Netherlands) · 2024Article
- Movement Asymmetries: From Their Molecular Origin to the Analysis of Movement Asymmetries in Athletes.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Deciphering the Relationship between SARS-CoV-2 and Cancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Nucleic Acid Probes in Bio-Imaging and Diagnostics: Recent Advances in ODN-Based Fluorescent and Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Nanoparticle and Nanostructured Systems.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Interaction of Laurusides 1 and 2 with the 3C-like Protease (MInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Exploring the Protective Effect of Food Drugs against Viral Diseases: Interaction of Functional Food Ingredients and SARS-CoV-2, Influenza Virus, and HSV.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Unanswered questions on the airborne transmission of COVID-19.Environmental chemistry letters · 2023Review
- The Role of Nutrition and Forest-Bathing in the Physical Rehabilitation of Physically Inactive Patients: From the Molecular Aspects to New Nature-Inspired Techniques.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- The Feasibility and Impact of Practising Online Forest Bathing to Improve Anxiety, Rumination, Social Connection and Long-COVID Symptoms: A Pilot Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Mediation of Self-Compassion on Pathways from Stress to Psychopathologies among Japanese Workers.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Elucidating the role of environmental management of forests, air quality, solid waste and wastewater on the dissemination of SARS-CoV-2.Hygiene and environmental health advances · 2022Review
- CD, UV, and In Silico Insights on the Effect of 1,3-Bis(1'-uracilyl)-2-propanone on Serum Albumin Structure.Biomolecules · 2022Article
- Interference of Chaga mushroom terpenoids with the attachment of SARS-CoV-2; in silico perspective.Computers in biology and medicine · 2022Article
- Nucleic Acids as Biotools at the Interface between Chemistry and Nanomedicine in the COVID-19 Era.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- The Healing Power of Clean Rivers: In Silico Evaluation of the Antipsoriatic Potential of Apiin and Hyperoside Plant Metabolites Contained in River Waters.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is causing major sanitary and socioeconomic issues, yet some locations are less impacted than others. While densely populated areas are likely to favor viral transmission, we hypothesize that other environmental factors could explain lower cases in some areas. We studied COVID-19 impact and population statistics in highly forested Mediterranean Italian regions versus some northern regions where the amount of trees per capita is much lower. We also evaluated the affinity of Mediterranean plant-emitted volatile organic compounds (VOCs) isoprene, α-pinene, linalool and limonene for COVID-19 protein targets by molecular docking modeling. Results show that while mean death number increased about 4 times from 2020 to 2021, the percentage of deaths per population (0.06-0.10%) was lower in the greener Mediterranean regions such as Sardinia, Calabria and Basilica versus northern regions with low forest coverage, such as Lombardy (0.33%) and Emilia Romagna (0.29%). Data also show that the pandemic severity cannot be explained solely by population density. Modeling reveals that plant organic compounds could bind and interfere with the complex formed by the receptor binding domain of the coronavirus spike protein with the human cell receptor. Overall, our findings are likely explained by sea proximity and mild climate, Mediterranean diet and the abundance of non-deciduous Mediterranean plants which emit immunomodulatory and antiviral compounds. Potential implications include 'forest bathing' as a therapeutic practice, designing nasal sprays containing plant volatile organic compounds, and preserving and increasing forest coverage. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10311-021-01309-5.
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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.