Community Risk Factors in the COVID-19 Incidence and Mortality in Catalonia (Spain). A Population-Based Study.

Quim Zaldo-Aubanell,Marc Saez,Joan Olivet-Vila,Albert Bach,Roser Maneja,Isabel Serra,David Pino,Ferran Campillo I López

doi:10.3390/ijerph18073768

Abstract

The heterogenous distribution of both COVID-19 incidence and mortality in Catalonia (Spain) during the firsts moths of the pandemic suggests that differences in baseline risk factors across regions might play a relevant role in modulating the outcome of the pandemic. This paper investigates the associations between both COVID-19 incidence and mortality and air pollutant concentration levels, and screens the potential effect of the type of agri-food industry and the overall land use and cover (LULC) at area level. We used a main model with demographic, socioeconomic and comorbidity covariates highlighted in previous research as important predictors. This allowed us to take a glimpse of the independent effect of the explanatory variables when controlled for the main model covariates. Our findings are aligned with previous research showing that the baseline features of the regions in terms of general health status, pollutant concentration levels (here NO2 and PM10), type of agri-food industry, and type of land use and land cover have modulated the impact of COVID-19 at a regional scale. This study is among the first to explore the associations between COVID-19 and the type of agri-food industry and LULC data using a population-based approach. The results of this paper might serve as the basis to develop new research hypotheses using a more comprehensive approach, highlighting the inequalities of regions in terms of risk factors and their response to COVID-19, as well as fostering public policies towards more resilient and safer environments.

Highlights

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has become a leading health concern worldwide
COVID-19 incidence and mortality and the explored covariates are shown in Table 4 and represented in Figure S6
Human activity covariates as well as land use and cover covariates were included in the model separately

Summary

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has become a leading health concern worldwide. Previous studies have reported the association between population physical distancing and COVID-19 spreading dynamics [9,10,11], as well as other weather conditions such as humidity and temperature [12]. These links might lie behind the local outbreaks of the pandemic in certain agri-food sectors such as meat and leather and fur industries [13,14]. Other studies have recently pointed out that COVID-19 incidence correlates to ultraviolet radiation, rather than temperature-humidity [15,16]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion