No Effects of Meteorological Factors on the SARS-CoV-2 Infection Fatality Rate.

Aleix Solanes; Carlos Laredo; Mar Guasp; Miquel Angel Fullana; Lydia Fortea; Ignasi Garcia-olivé; Marco Solmi; Jae Il Shin; Xabier Urra; Joaquim Radua

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No Effects of Meteorological Factors on the SARS-CoV-2 Infection Fatality Rate.

Author: Aleix SOLANES ^{1
,

2} ; Carlos LAREDO ³ ; Mar GUASP ^{1
,

4} ; Miquel Angel FULLANA ^{1
,

5
,

6} ; Lydia FORTEA ^{1
,

7
,

8} ; Ignasi GARCIA-OLIVÉ ^{9
,

10} ; Marco SOLMI ^{11
,

12
,

13} ; Jae Il SHIN ¹⁴ ; Xabier URRA ^{1
,

4} ; Joaquim RADUA ^{1
,

7
,

15
,

16}
Author Information

1. Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain
2. Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
3. Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain.
4. Neurosciences Unit, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, Spain.
5. Adult Psychiatry and Psychology Department, Institute of Neurosciences, Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain
6. Biomedical Network Research Centre on Mental Health (CIBERSAM), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
7. Biomedical Network Research Centre on Mental Health (CIBERSAM), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
8. Department of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
9. Department of Medicine, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
10. Pneumology Department, Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona, Spain.
11. Neurosciences Department, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
12. Padua Neuroscience Center, Padua, Italy
13. Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
14. Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Korea.
15. Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
16. Centre for Psychiatric Research and Education, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Publication Type:Journal Article
Keywords: COVID-19; Climate; Infection fatality rate; SARS-CoV-2; Temperature; Weather
MeSH: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; COVID-19/virology*; Humans; Meteorological Concepts; Middle Aged; Pandemics/statistics & numerical data*; SARS-CoV-2/physiology*; Spain/epidemiology*; Weather; Young Adult
From: Biomedical and Environmental Sciences 2021;34(11):871-880
CountryChina
Language:English
Abstract: Objective:Previous studies have shown that meteorological factors may increase COVID-19 mortality, likely due to the increased transmission of the virus. However, this could also be related to an increased infection fatality rate (IFR). We investigated the association between meteorological factors (temperature, humidity, solar irradiance, pressure, wind, precipitation, cloud coverage) and IFR across Spanish provinces (
Methods:We estimated IFR as excess deaths (the gap between observed and expected deaths, considering COVID-19-unrelated deaths prevented by lockdown measures) divided by the number of infections (SARS-CoV-2 seropositive individuals plus excess deaths) and conducted Spearman correlations between meteorological factors and IFR across the provinces.
Results:We estimated 2,418,250 infections and 43,237 deaths. The IFR was 0.03% in < 50-year-old, 0.22% in 50-59-year-old, 0.9% in 60-69-year-old, 3.3% in 70-79-year-old, 12.6% in 80-89-year-old, and 26.5% in ≥ 90-year-old. We did not find statistically significant relationships between meteorological factors and adjusted IFR. However, we found strong relationships between low temperature and unadjusted IFR, likely due to Spain's colder provinces' aging population.
Conclusion:The association between meteorological factors and adjusted COVID-19 IFR is unclear. Neglecting age differences or ignoring COVID-19-unrelated deaths may severely bias COVID-19 epidemiological analyses.