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Review
. 2023 Jun;48(3):234-238.
doi: 10.1007/s00059-023-05178-2. Epub 2023 Apr 25.

Environmental factors and their impact on the COVID-19 pandemic

Julian Kreutz  1 , Juliane Heitmann  2 , Ann-Christin Schäfer  2 , Sümeya Aldudak  2 , Bernhard Schieffer  2 , Elisabeth Schieffer  2
Affiliations
Review

Environmental factors and their impact on the COVID-19 pandemic

Julian Kreutz et al. Herz. 2023 Jun.

Abstract
in English, German

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in numerous cases of illness and death worldwide. Research has shown that there are associations between transmission, as well as the severity of SARS-CoV‑2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) infections, and various environmental factors. For example, air pollution with particulate matter is thought to play a crucial role, and both climatic and geographical aspects must be considered. Furthermore, environmental conditions such as industry and urban lifestyle have a significant impact on air quality and thus on health aspects of the population. In this regard, other factors such as chemicals, microplastics, and diet also critically impact health, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how closely health and the environment are linked. This review discusses the impact of environmental factors on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Die COVID-19-Pandemie (Coronavirus Disease 2019) hat weltweit zu zahlreichen Krankheits- und Todesfällen geführt. Forschungsergebnisse haben gezeigt, dass es Zusammenhänge zwischen der Übertragung sowie dem Schweregrad von SARS-CoV-2-Infektionen (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) mit verschiedenen Umweltfaktoren gibt. Es wird angenommen, dass beispielsweise die Luftverschmutzung mit Feinstaub eine entscheidende Rolle spielt, wobei sowohl klimatische als auch geografische Aspekte berücksichtigt werden müssen. Darüber hinaus haben Umweltbedingungen wie die Industrie und der städtische Lebensstil einen erheblichen Einfluss auf die Luftqualität und damit auf gesundheitliche Aspekte der Bevölkerung. Zudem beeinflussen weitere Faktoren wie Chemikalien, Mikroplastik und die Ernährung ebenfalls die Gesundheit einschließlich Atemwegs- und Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen. Die COVID-19-Pandemie hat insgesamt deutlich gemacht, wie eng Gesundheit und Umwelt miteinander verknüpft sind. In der vorliegenden Übersichtsarbeit werden die Auswirkungen von Umweltfaktoren auf die COVID-19-Pandemie dargestellt..

Keywords: Air pollution; Climate; Microplastics; Nutrition; SARS-CoV‑2.

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Conflict of interest statement

J. Kreutz, J. Heitmann, A.-C. Schäfer, S. Aldudak, B. Schieffer and E. Schieffer declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Environmental factors and their impact on health aspects and the spread and severity of SARS-CoV‑2. Environmental factors such as urban lifestyle, industrial pollution, mobility and transportation, geographic/climatic conditions, chemicals, microplastics, and nutrition have important influences on health aspects and can cause or exacerbate neurocognitive, upper respiratory tract, pulmonary, cardiovascular, liver, and gastrointestinal diseases. Furthermore, environmental factors influence the spread of SARS-CoV‑2, and the listed effects on preexisting diseases have a decisive influence on the severity of the disease course. This illustrates the critical influence of environmental factors on the COVID-19 pandemic. (Figure created with BioRender.com)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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