Dr. André Almeida, from Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Ocidental (CHLO), Portugal will be presenting a poster derived from the abstract entitled: “Air Pollution and post-acute sequelae of Covid-19: a multicentric study based on the EuCARE Project” at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Conference 2024 in Vienna, Austria.
This study explores the relationship between exposure to air pollution and the post-acute sequelae of COVID (PASC), since this relationship in unknown although the same exposure has been found to be associated with higher COVID-19 severity.
In this study were included patients from four centres participating in the EuCARE PASC cohort in order to assess a possible association of their air pollution exposure with the development of PASC and PASC phenotypes.
Unvaccinated patients who had a history of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection until October 2021 were included, while looking at their historical exposure to air pollutants over 2017-2019 based on residential addresses, adjusting for neighbourhood socio-economic data, individual comorbidities and calendar time.
Among a total of 903 patients, the study found that exposure to particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) was associated with a lower risk of PASC symptoms in general but with a higher risk of brain fog phenotypes.
These differential effects are now being further explored in an extended data analysis. These findings may inform PASC epidemiology and public health policies regarding air quality.
Stay tuned for more updates.