Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37867515›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in endocrinology2023

The causal relationship between air pollution, obesity, and COVID-19 risk: a large-scale genetic correlation study.

Jingwei Zhang, Jie Wen, Xin Wan, Peng Luo

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in endocrinology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
0.8field-weighted citation impact, top 31% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Prolonged exposure to leisure screen time notably accelerates biological aging: Evidence from observational studies and genetic associations.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2025
    Observational
  2. Article
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Jingwei ZhangDepartment of Neurosurgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.
Jie WenDepartment of Neurosurgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.
Xin WanDepartment of Neurosurgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.
Peng LuoDepartment of Oncology, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Xiangya Hospital Central South University · CNCentral South University · CNZhujiang Hospital · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Objective: Observational evidence reported that air pollution is a significant risk element for numerous health problems, such as obesity and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but their causal relationship is currently unknown. Our objective was to probe the causal relationship between air pollution, obesity, and COVID-19 and to explore whether obesity mediates this association. Methods: We obtained instrumental variables strongly correlated to air pollutants [PM2.5, nitrogen dioxide (NO Results: PM2.5 genetically correlated with 5 obesity-related traits, which obesity class 1 was most affected (beta = 0.38, 95% CI = 0.11 - 0.65, Conclusion: Our study suggested that exposure to heavy air pollutants causally increased risks for obesity. Besides, obesity causally increased the risks for COVID-19 phenotypes. Attention needs to be paid to weight status for the population who suffer from heavy air pollution, as they are more likely to be susceptible and vulnerable to COVID-19.

Indexed as

Air PollutantsAir PollutionCOVID-19Correlation of DataGenome-Wide Association StudyHumansNitrogen DioxideObesityParticulate MatterAir PollutantsNitrogen DioxideParticulate Matterair pollutionCOVID-19mediationMendelian randomizationobesity

Identifiers

PMID37867515
PMCPMC10585274
OpenAlexW4387365812

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.