Influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on causes for the development of carbon monoxide intoxications.

Introduction: Several causes can lead to carbon monoxide (CO) intoxication. A first-line treatment option for such intoxications is hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO2) therapy. The COVID-19 pandemic has been changing everyday life in Germany since March 2020, mainly caused by statutory provisions. Our aim was to review whether these changes have an influence on the causes and frequency for the development of CO intoxication. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data of patients who were treated for CO intoxication in our institution between April 2019 and March 2021. Besides demographic data, we compared the overall number and documented causes for each CO intoxication in the period of April 2020 to March 2021 with the period between April 2019 and March 2020. Results: After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 139 patients were included. We found a significant decrease in the overall number of patients who needed treatment since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the share of CO intoxication caused by the indoor use of coal stoves, coal barbecue, or suicide attempts increased. In contrast, the share of cases caused by apartment or house fire, smoking waterpipe, or gas stoves decreased. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated restrictions lead to a significant reduction in the number of patients in need for HBO2 therapy due to CO-Intoxication. The causes leading to CO intoxication also changed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. We observed a shift toward causes related to the indoor use of coal-fired stoves and barbecues as well as suicide attempts.

The impact of air pollution on COVID-19 incidence, severity, and mortality: A systematic review of studies in Europe and North America.

BACKGROUND: Air pollution is speculated to increase the risks of COVID-19 spread, severity, and mortality. OBJECTIVES: We systematically reviewed studies investigating the relationship between air pollution and COVID-19 cases, non-fatal severity, and mortality in North America and Europe. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus for studies investigating the effects of harmful pollutants, including particulate matter with diameter ≤2.5 or 10 µm (PM2.5 or PM10), ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and carbon monoxide (CO), on COVID-19 cases, severity, and deaths in Europe and North America through to June 19, 2021. Articles were included if they quantitatively measured the relationship between exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 health outcomes. RESULTS: From 2,482 articles screened, we included 116 studies reporting 355 separate pollutant-COVID-19 estimates. Approximately half of all evaluations on incidence were positive and significant associations (52.7%); for mortality the corresponding figure was similar (48.1%), while for non-fatal severity this figure was lower (41.2%). Longer-term exposure to pollutants appeared more likely to be positively associated with COVID-19 incidence (63.8%). PM2.5, PM10, O3, NO2, and CO were most strongly positively associated with COVID-19 incidence, while PM2.5 and NO2 with COVID-19 deaths. All studies were observational and most exhibited high risk of confounding and outcome measurement bias. DISCUSSION: Air pollution may be associated with worse COVID-19 outcomes. Future research is needed to better test the air pollution-COVID-19 hypothesis, particularly using more robust study designs and COVID-19 measures that are less prone to measurement error and by considering co-pollutant interactions.

Effect of environmental pollutants PM-2.5, carbon monoxide, and ozone on the incidence and mortality of SARS-COV-2 infection in ten wildfire affected counties in California.

Various regions of California have experienced a large number of wildfires this year, at the same time the state has been experiencing a large number of cases of and deaths from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The present study aimed to investigate the relationship of wildfire allied pollutants, including particulate matter (PM-2.5 µm), carbon monoxide (CO), and Ozone (O3) with the dynamics of new daily cases and deaths due to SARS-COV 2 infection in 10 counties, which were affected by wildfire in California. The data on COVID-19 pertaining to daily new cases and deaths was recorded from Worldometer Web. The daily PM-2.5 µm, CO, and O3 concentrations were recorded from three metrological websites: BAAQMD- Air Quality Data; California Air Quality Index-AQI; and Environmental Protection Agency- EPA. The data recorded from the date of the appearance of first case of (SARS-CoV-2) in California region to the onset of wildfire, and from the onset of wildfire to September 22, 2020. After the wildfire, the PM2.5 concentration increased by 220.71%; O3 by 19.56%; and the CO concentration increased by 151.05%. After the wildfire, the numbers of cases and deaths due to COVID-19 both increased respectively by 56.9% and 148.2%. The California wildfire caused an increase in ambient concentrations of toxic pollutants which were temporally associated with an increase in the incidence and mortality of COVID-19.