The DOI matches its Crossref record; 5 of the 5 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Severe air pollution links to higher mortality in COVID-19 patients: The “double-hit” hypothesis.
Open accessAbstract
Objectives In areas of SARS-CoV-2 outbreak worldwide mean air pollutants concentrations vastly exceed the maximum limits. Chronic exposure to air pollutants have been associated with lung ACE-2 over-expression which is known to be the main receptor for SARS-CoV-2. The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between air pollutants concentration (PM 2.5 and NO2) and COVID-19 outbreak, in terms of transmission, number of patients, severity of presentation and number of deaths. Methods COVID-19 cases, ICU admissions and mortality rate were correlated with severity of air pollution in the Italian regions. Results The highest number of COVID-19 cases were recorded in the most polluted regions with patients presenting with more severe forms of the disease requiring ICU admission. In these regions, mortality was two-fold higher than the other regions. Conclusions From the data available we propose a “double-hit hypothesis”: chronic exposure to PM 2.5 causes alveolar ACE-2 receptor overexpression. This may increase viral load in patients exposed to pollutants in turn depleting ACE-2 receptors and impairing host defences. High atmospheric NO2 may provide a second hit causing a severe form of SARS-CoV-2 in ACE-2 depleted lungs resulting in a worse outcome.
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Cites
Aerosol and surface stability of SARS-CoV-2 as compared with SARS-CoV-1
van Doremalen, N., Bushmaker, T., Morris, D. H., Holbrook, M. G., Gamble, A., Williamson, B. N., Tamin, A., Harcourt, J. L., Thornburg, N. J., Gerber, S. I., et al. (2020) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmc2004973 · Cited by 9,951
A crucial role of angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in SARS coronavirus–induced lung injury
Kuba, K., Imai, Y., Rao, S., Gao, H., Guo, F., Guan, B., Huan, Y., Yang, P., Zhang, Y., Deng, W., et al. (2005) · Nature Medicine · doi:10.1038/nm1267 · Cited by 3,445
Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 protects from severe acute lung failure
Imai, Y., Kuba, K., Rao, S., Huan, Y., Guo, F., Guan, B., Yang, P., Sarao, R., Wada, T., Leong-Poi, H., et al. (2005) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature03712 · Cited by 2,453
Viral dynamics in mild and severe cases of COVID-19
Liu, Y., Yan, L.-M., Wan, L., Xiang, T.-X., Le, A., Liu, J.-M., Peiris, M., Poon, L. L. M., & Zhang, W. (2020) · The Lancet Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1016/s1473-3099(20)30232-2 · Cited by 1,727
Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2: A Double-Edged Sword
Wang, K., Gheblawi, M., & Oudit, G. Y. (2020) · Circulation · doi:10.1161/circulationaha.120.047049 · Cited by 265
Cited by
Bourdrel, T., Annesi-Maesano, I., Alahmad, B., Maesano, C. N., & Bind, M.-A. (2021) · European Respiratory Review · doi:10.1183/16000617.0242-2020 · Cited by 224
Subramaniam, S., Raju, N., Ganesan, A., Rajavel, N., Chenniappan, M., Prakash, C., Pramanik, A., Basak, A. K., & Dixit, S. (2022) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su14169951 · Cited by 193
Lai, A., Chang, M. L., O'Donnell, R. P., Zhou, C., Sumner, J. A., & Hsiai, T. K. (2021) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146464 · Cited by 25
Metadata
- Authors
- Frontera, A., Cianfanelli, L., Vlachos, K., Landoni, G., & Cremona, G.
- Venue
- Journal of Infection
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-08
- Volume
- 81
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 255-259
- ISSN
- 0163-4453 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3028587641
- Cited by
- 296
- References
- 5
- FWCI
- 22.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
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- Frontera, A., Cianfanelli, L., Vlachos, K., Landoni, G., & Cremona, G. (2020). Severe air pollution links to higher mortality in COVID-19 patients: The “double-hit” hypothesis. Journal of Infection. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinf.2020.05.031
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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
