Association Between Air Pollution in Lima and the High Incidence of COVID-19: Findings from a Post Hoc Analysis

• Autores: Vasquez-Apestegui, Vanessa, Parras-Garrido, Enrique, Tapia, Vilma, Paz-Aparicio, Valeria M., Rojas Quincho, Jhojan Pool, Sánchez-Ccoyllo, Odón R., Gonzales, Gustavo F.
• Formato: documento de trabajo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2020
• Institución: Servicio Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología del Perú
• Repositorio: SENAMHI-Institucional
• Lenguaje: inglés
• OAI Identifier: oai:repositorio.senamhi.gob.pe:20.500.12542/818
• Enlace del recurso: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12542/818; https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-39404/v1
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: Air Pollution; Particulate Matter; Calidad Ambiental; Calidad del Aire; COVID-19; https://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#1.05.08; https://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#1.05.09; contaminacion del aire - Aire y Atmósfera

Until June 12, 2020, there were 6,308 deaths and 220,749 SARS-CoV-2 positive cases in Peru. In Lima, the total number of COVID-19 deaths in all metropolitan areas was 2,382. The case-fatality rate at the national level was 2.58% and 1.93% in Lima. Higher PM2.5 levels are associated with higher number of cases and deaths of COVID-19. The case-fatality rate (Deaths/cases*100) did not increase with the increase in PM2.5 levels. A higher number of food markets was associated with higher incidence and mortality of COVID-19 (p < 0.01 for both); these associations persisted when cases (r = 0.49; p < 0.01) and deaths (r = 0.58; p < 0.01) were adjusted by the population density. The association of PM2.5 with cases of COVID-19 was maintained after controlling analysis by age, sex and number of food markers.