Short-term exposure to ambient air pollution and severe COVID-19: mortality and hospital admission to COVID-19 in the Netherlands from february to december 2020

Abstract

This study aimed to examine acute effects of exposure to ambient air pollution on COVID-19 hospital admissions and mortality in the Netherlands. We hypothesized that exposure to increased air pollution in the preceding week might trigger an exacerbation of health of infected individuals.

Associations between daily concentrations of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 µm (PM2.5) and ≤10 µm (PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), ozone (O₃) and risk of hospital admissions and mortality due to COVID-19 from February to December 2020 was analyzed across all 352 Dutch municipalities grouped into 12 provinces. Time-series models were used to fit province-specific estimates, followed by meta-analyses to produce national estimates. Analyses were based on daily averages of PM2.5, PM10, NO₂, and maximum 8-hour running average of O₃ on a 1×1 km grid and averaged on municipality level by population weight. Models were adjusted for spatiotemporal confounders, including government policies in response to the number of COVID-19 infections. Since there were only few COVID-19 cases during the summertime when O₃ levels were highest, associations between O₃ and COVID-19 health outcomes were not further explored.

We found associations between exposure to air pollution in the preceding week (average of lag 0-7 days) and COVID-19 hospital admissions and mortality. On a national level, an interquartile range increase in PM2.5, PM10 and NO₂ exposure was associated with 11-12% increased mortality risk; the risk for hospital admissions was higher: 19-25%. Observed associations were more robust for PM than NO₂ in two-pollutant models.

Our results suggest that short-term exposure to PM2.5 and PM10 may increase the risk of COVID-19 mortality and hospital admission. This indicates that, consistent with previous studies on air pollution and respiratory infections, the population at risk of being hospitalized or dying of COVID-19 is extra vulnerable to the adverse effects of short-term air pollution exposure.