The Effect of Ambient Environmental Conditions on COVID-19 Mortality: A Systematic Review

Karla Romero Starke, René Mauer, Ethel Karskens, Anna Pretzsch, David Reissig, Albert Nienhaus, Anna Lene Seidler and Andreas Seidler
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Karla Romero Starke: Institute and Policlinic of Occupational and Social Medicine (IPAS), Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany
René Mauer: Institute for Medical Informatics and Biometry (IMB), Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität, 01307 Dresden, Germany
Ethel Karskens: Institute and Policlinic of Occupational and Social Medicine (IPAS), Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany
Anna Pretzsch: Institute and Policlinic of Occupational and Social Medicine (IPAS), Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany
David Reissig: Institute and Policlinic of Occupational and Social Medicine (IPAS), Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany
Albert Nienhaus: Department of Occupational Medicine, Toxic Substances and Health Research, Institution for Statutory Social Accident Insurance and Prevention in the Health Care and Welfare Services (BGW), 22089 Hamburg, Germany
Anna Lene Seidler: NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Andreas Seidler: Institute and Policlinic of Occupational and Social Medicine (IPAS), Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 12, 1-20

Abstract: Weather conditions may have an impact on SARS-CoV-2 virus transmission, as has been shown for seasonal influenza. Virus transmission most likely favors low temperature and low humidity conditions. This systematic review aimed to collect evidence on the impact of temperature and humidity on COVID-19 mortality. This review was registered with PROSPERO (registration no. CRD42020196055). We searched the Pubmed, Embase, and Cochrane COVID-19 databases for observational epidemiological studies. Two independent reviewers screened the title/abstracts and full texts of the studies. Two reviewers also performed data extraction and quality assessment. From 5051 identified studies, 11 were included in the review. Although the results were inconsistent, most studies imply that a decrease in temperature and humidity contributes to an increase in mortality. To establish the association with greater certainty, future studies should consider accurate exposure measurements and important covariates, such as government lockdowns and population density, sufficient lag times, and non-linear associations.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; temperature; humidity; precipitation; seasonality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:12:p:6665-:d:578972

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