The Causal Effects of Long-Term PM2.5 Exposure on COVID-19 in India
This study investigates the causal effects of long-term particulate matter 2.5 exposure on COVID-19 deaths, fatality rates, and cases in India by using an instrumental variables approach based on thermal inversion episodes. The estimation results i...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/655721612964437622/The-Causal-Effects-of-Long-Term-PM2-5-Exposure-on-COVID-19-in-India http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35135 |
| Summary: | This study investigates the causal
effects of long-term particulate matter 2.5 exposure on
COVID-19 deaths, fatality rates, and cases in India by using
an instrumental variables approach based on thermal
inversion episodes. The estimation results indicate that a 1
percent increase in long-term exposure to particulate matter
2.5 leads to an increase in COVID-19 deaths by 5.7
percentage points and an increase in the COVID-19 fatality
rate by 0.027 percentage point, but this exposure is not
necessarily correlated with COVID-19 cases. People with
underlying health conditions such as respiratory illness
caused by exposure to air pollution might have a higher risk
of death following SARS-CoV-2 infection. This finding might
also apply to other countries where high levels of air
pollution are a critical issue for development and public health. |
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