tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Environ Res
. 2021 May 21;111339.
doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111339. Online ahead of print.
High health expenditures and low exposure of population to air pollution as critical factors that can reduce fatality rate in COVID-19 pandemic crisis
Mario Coccia[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
One of the problems hardly clarified in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic crisis is to identify factors associated with a lower mortality of COVID-19 between countries to design strategies to cope with future unforeseen pandemics in society. The study here confronts this problem by developing a global analysis based on more than 160 countries. This paper proposes that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, healthcare spending and air pollution of nations are critical factors associated with fatality rate of COVID-19. The statistical evidence seems in general to support that countries with a low average COVID-19 fatality rate have high expenditures in health sector >7.5% of GDP, high health expenditures per capita >$2,300 and a lower exposure of population to days exceeding safe levels of particulate matter (PM[SUB]2.5[/SUB]). Another relevant finding here is that these countries have lower case fatality rates (CFRs) of COVID-19, regardless a higher percentage of population aged more than 65 years. Overall, then, this study finds that an effective and proactive strategy to reduce the negative impact of future pandemics, driven by novel viral agents, has to be based on a planning of enhancement of healthcare sector and of sustainability in environment that can reduce fatality rate of infectious diseases in society.
Keywords: Air Pollution; COVID-19; Case fatality rates; Crisis management; Health expenditures; Health policy; Health systems; Infected people.
. 2021 May 21;111339.
doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111339. Online ahead of print.
High health expenditures and low exposure of population to air pollution as critical factors that can reduce fatality rate in COVID-19 pandemic crisis
Mario Coccia[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 34029545
- DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111339
Abstract
One of the problems hardly clarified in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic crisis is to identify factors associated with a lower mortality of COVID-19 between countries to design strategies to cope with future unforeseen pandemics in society. The study here confronts this problem by developing a global analysis based on more than 160 countries. This paper proposes that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, healthcare spending and air pollution of nations are critical factors associated with fatality rate of COVID-19. The statistical evidence seems in general to support that countries with a low average COVID-19 fatality rate have high expenditures in health sector >7.5% of GDP, high health expenditures per capita >$2,300 and a lower exposure of population to days exceeding safe levels of particulate matter (PM[SUB]2.5[/SUB]). Another relevant finding here is that these countries have lower case fatality rates (CFRs) of COVID-19, regardless a higher percentage of population aged more than 65 years. Overall, then, this study finds that an effective and proactive strategy to reduce the negative impact of future pandemics, driven by novel viral agents, has to be based on a planning of enhancement of healthcare sector and of sustainability in environment that can reduce fatality rate of infectious diseases in society.
Keywords: Air Pollution; COVID-19; Case fatality rates; Crisis management; Health expenditures; Health policy; Health systems; Infected people.