Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Di Ciaula, Agostino
• Bonfrate, Leonilde
• Portincasa, Piero
• Appice, C
• Belfiore, A
• Binetti, M
• Cafagna, G
• Campanale, G
• Carrieri, A
• Cascella, G
• Cataldi, S
• Cezza, A
• Ciannarella, M
• Cicala, L
• D’Alitto, F
• Dell’Acqua, A
• Dell’Anna, L
• Diaferia, M
• Erroi, G
• Fiermonte, F
• Galerati, I
• Giove, M
• Grimaldi, L
• Mallardi, C
• Mastrandrea, E
• Mazelli, G. D.
• Mersini, G
• Messina, G
• Messina, M
• Montesano, A
• Noto, A
• Novielli, M. E.
• Noviello, M
• Palma, M. V.
• Palmieri, V. O.
• Passerini, F
• Perez, F
• Piro, C
• Prigigallo, F
• Pugliese, S
• Rossi, O
• Stasi, C
• Stranieri, R
• Vitariello, G

Titel

Nitrogen dioxide pollution increases vulnerability to COVID-19 through altered immune function

Ist Teil von

• Environmental science and pollution research international, 2022-06, Vol.29 (29), p.44404-44412

Ort / Verlag

Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg

Erscheinungsjahr

2022

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Previous ecological studies suggest the existence of possible interplays between the exposure to air pollutants and SARS-CoV-2 infection. Confirmations at individual level, however, are lacking. To explore the relationships between previous exposure to particulate matter < 10 μm (PM 10 ) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), the clinical outcome following hospital admittance, and lymphocyte subsets in COVID-19 patients with pneumonia. In 147 geocoded patients, we assessed the individual exposure to PM 10 and NO 2 in the 2 weeks before hospital admittance. We divided subjects according to the clinical outcome (i.e., discharge at home vs in-hospital death), and explored the lymphocyte-related immune function as an index possibly affecting individual vulnerability to the infection. As compared with discharged subjects, patients who underwent in-hospital death presented neutrophilia, lymphopenia, lower number of T CD45, CD3, CD4, CD16/56 + CD3 + , and B CD19 + cells, and higher previous exposure to NO 2 , but not PM 10 . Age and previous NO 2 exposure were independent predictors for mortality. NO 2 concentrations were also negatively related with the number of CD45, CD3, and CD4 cells. Previous NO 2 exposure is a co-factor independently affecting the mortality risk in infected individuals, through negative immune effects. Lymphopenia and altered lymphocyte subsets might precede viral infection due to nonmodifiable (i.e., age) and external (i.e., air pollution) factors. Thus, decreasing the burden of air pollutants should be a valuable primary prevention measure to reduce individual susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection and mortality.