Odds of hospitalization, intensive respiratory support, ICU admission for COVID-19 increased with increase in exposure to ambient PM2.5<\/sub>, NO2 <\/sub><\/p>\n<\/h3>\n <\/b><\/p>\n <\/b><\/p>\n WEDNESDAY, June 1, 2022 (HealthDay News) — One-year fine particulate matter (PM2.5<\/sub>) and one-month nitrogen dioxide (NO2<\/sub>) exposure are associated with increased COVID-19 severity, according to a study published online in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine<\/em>.<\/p>\n Zhanghua Chen, Ph.D., from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and colleagues used individual-level data from electronic medical records to examine the association between exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 severity. Data were included for all individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 from Kaiser Permanente Southern California between March 1, 2020, and Aug. 31, 2020. Based on residential address history, the one-year and one-month averaged ambient air pollutant (PM2.5<\/sub>, NO2<\/sub>, and ozone) exposures were estimated.<\/p>\n The researchers found that the rates of hospitalization, intensive respiratory support (IRS), intensive care unit (ICU) admissions within 30 days, and mortality within 60 days after COVID-19 diagnosis were 6.3, 2.4, 1.5, and 1.5 percent, respectively. One-year PM2.5<\/sub> and one-month NO2<\/sub> average exposures were associated with COVID-19 severity in adjusted multipollutant models. The odds ratios associated with one standard deviation increase in one-year PM2.5<\/sub> were 1.24, 1.33, and 1.32 for hospitalization, IRS, and ICU admission, respectively; the corresponding odds ratios for one-year NO2<\/sub> were 1.12, 1.18, and 1.21.<\/p>\n “Given that ambient air pollutants are modifiable through public health regulations and individual interventions, our results support public health and individual efforts to reduce air pollution exposure,” the authors write.<\/p>\n