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. 2021 Oct;28(37):51948-51960.
doi: 10.1007/s11356-021-14228-3. Epub 2021 May 16.

Impact of environmental factors and Sahara dust intrusions on incidence and severity of COVID-19 disease in Spain. Effect in the first and second pandemic waves

Cristina Linares  1 , Dante Culqui  1 , Fernando Belda  2 , José Antonio López-Bueno  1 , Yolanda Luna  2 , Gerardo Sánchez-Martínez  3 , Beatriz Hervella  2 , Julio Díaz  4
Affiliations

Impact of environmental factors and Sahara dust intrusions on incidence and severity of COVID-19 disease in Spain. Effect in the first and second pandemic waves

Cristina Linares et al. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Oct.

Abstract

Scientific evidence suggests that Saharan dust intrusions in Southern Europe contribute to the worsening of multiple pathologies and increase the concentrations of particulate matter (PM) and other pollutants. However, few studies have examined whether Saharan dust intrusions influence the incidence and severity of COVID-19 cases. To address this question, in this study we carried out generalized linear models with Poisson link between incidence rates and daily hospital admissions and average daily concentrations of PM10, NO2, and O3 in nine Spanish regions for the period from February 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020. The models were adjusted by maximum daily temperature and average daily absolute humidity. Furthermore, we controlled for trend, seasonality, and the autoregressive nature of the series. The variable relating to Saharan dust intrusions was introduced using a dichotomous variable, NAF, averaged across daily lags in ranges of 0-7 days, 8-14 days, 14-21 days, and 22-28 days. The results obtained in this study suggest that chemical air pollutants, and especially NO2, are related to the incidence and severity of COVID-19 in Spain. Furthermore, Saharan dust intrusions have an additional effect beyond what is attributable to the variation in air pollution; they are related, in different lags, to both the incidence and hospital admissions rates for COVID-19. These results serve to support public health measures that minimize population exposure on days with particulate matter advection from the Sahara.

Keywords: COVID-19; Hospital admissions; Morbidity; NO2; PM10; Saharan Dust.

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Conflict of interest statement

The manuscript should not be submitted to more than one journal for simultaneous consideration. The submitted work should be original and should not have been published elsewhere in any form or language (partially or in full), unless the new work concerns an expansion of previous work.

The researchers declare that they have no conflicts of interest that would compromise the independence of this research work. The views expressed by the authors do not necessarily coincide with those of the institutions whose affiliation is indicated at the beginning of this article.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Location of the study regions and location of the province capitals selected for participation in the study
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Relative risks obtained for the COVID-19 incidence rate for the different lags corresponding to Saharan dust intrusion, only in regions with statically significant findings. NAF:0_7 corresponds to the average value of the first 7 days of advection of Saharan dust. NAF:8_14 corresponds to the average value of the interval of 8 to 14 days after the Saharan dust advection. NAF:15_21 corresponds to the average value of the interval of 15 to 21 days after the Saharan dust advection. NAF:22_28 corresponds to the average value of the interval of 22 to 28 days after the Saharan dust advection
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Relative risks obtained for the rate of hospital admissions for COVID-19 for the lags corresponding to the intrusion of Saharan dust, only in regions with statically significant findings. NAF:0_7 corresponds to the average value of the first 7 days of advection of Saharan dust. NAF:8_14 corresponds to the average value of the interval of 8 to 14 days after the advection of Saharan dust. NAF:15_21 corresponds to the average value of the interval of 15 to 21 days after the Saharan dust advection. NAF:22_28 corresponds to the average value of the interval of 22 to 28 days after the advection of Saharan dust
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