ArticlePLOS global public health2022
The impact of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning design features on the transmission of viruses, including the 2019 novel coronavirus: A systematic review of ventilation and coronavirus.
Article in PLOS global public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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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
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Infection control challenges during 4 years of COVID-19 in a French psychiatric institution (2020-2024).IJID regions · 2026Article
- Assessment of air handling unit to improve ventilation in congregate living settings: a multicenter cross-sectional study.Infection control and hospital epidemiology · 2026Article
- Environmental degradation as a recipe for emerging viral diseases: implications for global health.One health outlook · 2026Review
- COVID-19-associated neurological and psychological manifestations.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2025Review
- COVID-19 workplace countermeasures that occupational physicians could not change in Japan: a qualitative study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Reducing Transmission of Airborne Respiratory Pathogens: A New Beginning as the COVID-19 Emergency Ends.Environmental health perspectives · 2024Review
- Ambient carbon dioxide concentration correlates with SARS-CoV-2 aerostability and infection risk.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Built Environment and SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in Long-Term Care Facilities: Cross-Sectional Survey and Data Linkage.Journal of the American Medical Directors Association · 2024Article
- Immunomics in one health: understanding the human, animal, and environmental aspects of COVID-19.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Aerosol transmission has been a pathway for the spread of many viruses. Similarly, emerging evidence has determined aerosol transmission for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the resulting COVID-19 pandemic to be significant. As such, data regarding the effect of Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) features to control and mitigate virus transmission is essential. A systematic review was conducted to identify and comprehensively synthesize research examining the effectiveness of ventilation for mitigating transmission of coronaviruses. A comprehensive search was conducted in Ovid MEDLINE, Compendex, Web of Science Core to January 2021. Study selection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessments were performed by two authors. Evidence tables were developed and results were described narratively. Results from 32 relevant studies showed that: increased ventilation rate was associated with decreased transmission, transmission probability/risk, infection probability/risk, droplet persistence, virus concentration, and increased virus removal and virus particle removal efficiency; increased ventilation rate decreased risk at longer exposure times; some ventilation was better than no ventilation; airflow patterns affected transmission; ventilation feature (e.g., supply/exhaust, fans) placement influenced particle distribution. Few studies provided specific quantitative ventilation parameters suggesting a significant gap in current research. Adapting HVAC ventilation systems to mitigate virus transmission is not a one-solution-fits-all approach. Changing ventilation rate or using mixing ventilation is not always the only way to mitigate and control viruses. Practitioners need to consider occupancy, ventilation feature (supply/exhaust and fans) placement, and exposure time in conjunction with both ventilation rates and airflow patterns. Some recommendations based on quantitative data were made for specific scenarios (e.g., using air change rate of 9 h-1 for a hospital ward). Other recommendations included using or increasing ventilation, introducing fresh air, using maximum supply rates, avoiding poorly ventilated spaces, assessing fan placement and potentially increasing ventilation locations, and employing ventilation testing and air balancing checks. Trial registration: PROSPERO 2020 CRD42020193968.
Identifiers
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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.