Improving air quality could lessen Covid impact, study finds

Exposure to air pollution can increase Covid hospitalisation by up to 30 per cent, reports Aisha Rimi

Researchers analysed the data from more than 50,000 Covid patients across Southern California (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Exposure to air pollution can worsen patient outcomes from Covid, a new study reveals.

Researchers found that exposure to air pollutants - such as fine particles (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) - increased the risk of hospitalisation by up to 30 per cent for fully vaccinated patients.

“Among vaccinated people, the detrimental effect of air pollution exposure is a little smaller, compared to people who were not vaccinated,” said Dr Chen, assistant professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “But that difference is not statistically significant.”