Abstract
Several observational studies from locations around the globe have documented a positive correlation between air pollution and the severity of COVID-19 disease. Observational studies cannot identify the causal link between air quality and the severity of COVID-19 outcomes, and these studies face three key identification challenges: 1) air pollution is not randomly distributed across geographies; 2) air-quality monitoring networks are sparse spatially; and 3) defensive behaviors to mediate exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 are not equally available to all, leading to large measurement error bias when using rate-based COVID-19 outcome measures (e.g., incidence rate or mortality rate). Using a quasi-experimental design, we explore whether traffic-related air pollutants cause people with COVID-19 to suffer more extreme health outcomes in New York City (NYC). When we address the previously overlooked challenges to identification, we do not detect causal impacts of increased chronic concentrations of traffic-related air pollutants on COVID-19 death or hospitalization counts in NYC census tracts.
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Reference43 articles.
1. The Lancet Commission on pollution and health;PJ Landrigan;The Lancet,2018
2. Caution, drivers! children present: traffic, pollution, and infant health;CR Knittel;The Review of Economics and Statistics,2016
3. Estimating causal effects of local air pollution on daily deaths: effect of low levels;J Schwartz;Environmental Health Perspectives,2017
4. Severe air pollution links to higher mortality in COVID-19 patients: the “double-hit” hypothesis.;A Frontera;Journal of Infectious Diseases,2020
5. Ambient fine particulate matter air pollution and the risk of hospitalization among COVID-19 positive individuals: Cohort study.;B Bowe;Environment International.,2021
Cited by
1 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献