Air pollution impact on the Covid-19 mortality in Iran considering the comorbidity (obesity, diabetes, and hypertension) correlations

Highlights

• A reliable Covid-19 data from Iran was used in this paper.

• 12 cities were considered from all of the minor climate conditions of the country to minimize the climate bias.

• Correlation of the air pollution and the other most effective diseases on the Covid-19 is also studied.

• Nox was the most effective particle and had a significant impact on the Covid-19 mortality rate.

• For a 1% increase in the NO₂ concentration, there will be a 2.7% increase in the Covid-19 mortality rate.

Abstract

Since the rise of the Covid-19 pandemic, several researchers stated the possibility of a positive relationship between Covid-19 spread and climatic parameters. An ecological study in 12 Iranian cities using the report of daily deaths from Covid-19 (March to August 2020) and validated data on air pollutants, considering average concentrations in each city in the last year used to analyze the association between chronic exposure to air pollutants and the death rate from Covid-19 in Iran. Poisson regression models were used, with generalized additive models and adjustment variables. A significant increase of 2.7% (IC(95%) 2.6–4.4) was found in the mortality rate due to Covid-19 due to an increase of 1 μg/m³ of NO₂. The results suggest an association between Covid-19 mortality and NO₂ exposure. As a risk approximation associated with air pollution, more precise analysis is done. The results also show a good consistency with studies from other regions; this paper's results can be useful for the public health policymakers and decision-making to control the Covid-19 spread.