Correlation between UV Index, Temperature and Humidity with Respect to Incidence and Severity of COVID 19 in Spain
Juan Blas Pérez-Gilaberte, Natalia Martín-Iranzo, Jo Aguilera, Manuel Almenara-Blasco, Victoria María, De Gálvez, Yolanda Gilaberte
Background: Various studies support the inverse correlation between solar exposure and Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 infection. In Spain, from the Canary Islands to the northern part of the country, the global incidence of COVID-19 is different depending on latitude, which could be related to different meteorological conditions such as temperature, humidity, and ultraviolet index (UVI). The objective of the present work was to analyze the association between UVI, other relevant environmental factors such as temperature and humidity, and the incidence, severity, and mortality of COVID-19 at different latitudes in Spain. Methods: An observational prospective study was conducted, recording the numbers of new cases, hospitalizations, patients in critical units, mortality rates, and annual variations related to UVI, temperature, and humidity in five different provinces of Spain from January 2020 to February 2021. Results: Statistically significant inverse correlations (Spearman coefficients) were observed between UVI, temperature, annual changes, and the incidence of COVID-19 cases at almost all latitudes. Conclusion: Higher ultraviolet radiation levels and mean temperatures could contribute to reducing COVID-19 incidence, hospitalizations, and mortality.
Institutional Review Board Statement: The authors declare that ethics approval and consent to participate is not applicable, as data were obtained from the official public source of the Spanish National Epidemiological Centre (CNE) in Spain. Public epidemiological COVID-19 data were obtained from https://cnecovid.isciii.es (accessed on 14 March 2021).
Informed Consent Statement: Authors declare no application of consent for publication, as data sources are public and epidemiological data are derived from anonymous sources.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
References
Bernhard, Mayer, Seckmeyer, Moise, Measurements of spectral solar UV irradiance in tropical Australia, J. Geophys. Res. Atmos,
doi:10.1029/97JD00072Biasin, Strizzi, Bianco, Macchi, Utyro et al., UV and violet light can Neutralize SARS-CoV-2 Infectivity, J. Photochem. Photobiol,
doi:10.1016/j.jpap.2021.100107Biryukov, Boydston, Dunning, Yeager, Wood et al., Increasing Temperature and Relative Humidity Accelerates Inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 on Surfaces, mSphere,
doi:10.1128/mSphere.00441-20Bruno, Wernly, Masyuk, Muessig, Schiffner et al., No impact of weather conditions on the outcome of intensive care unit patients, Wien. Med. Wochenschr,
doi:10.1007/s10354-021-00830-0Cacho, Hernánde, López-Hoyos, Martínez-Taboada, Can meteorological factors explain the differences in COVID-19 incidence and severity across the Spanish regions? An ecological study, Environ. Health,
doi:10.1186/s12940-020-00660-4Charoenngam, Holick, Immunologic Effects of Vitamin D on Human Health and Disease, Nutrients
Corrêa, Blanco, Vollet-Filho, Moais, Trevelin et al., Efficiency of an air circulation decontamination device for micro-organisms using ultraviolet radiation, J. Hosp. Infect,
doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2021.06.002Fang, Li, Yu, Wang, Zhang et al., Epidemiological, comorbidity factors with severity and prognosis of COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis, Aging,
doi:10.18632/aging.103579Feiner Solís, Avedillo Salas, Luesma Bartolomé, Santander Ballestín, The Effects of Vitamin D Supplementation in COVID-19 Patients: A Systematic Review, Int. J. Mol. Sci,
doi:10.3390/ijms232012424Ganasegeran, Fadzly, Ch'ng, Looi, Peariasamy, Influence of Population Density for COVID-19 Spread in Malaysia: An Ecological Study, Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health,
doi:10.3390/ijerph18189866Gies, Roy, Javorniczky, Henderson, Lemus-Deschamps et al., Global Solar UV Index: Australian measurements, forecasts and comparison with the UK, Photochem. Photobiol,
doi:10.1111/j.1751-1097.2004.tb09854.xHe, Chin, Yu, Huang, Zhang et al., The Influence of Average Temperature and Relative Humidity on New Cases of COVID-19: Time-Series Analysis, JMIR Public Health Surveill,
doi:10.2196/20495Herman, Biegel, Huang, Inactivation times from 290 to 315 nm UVB in sunlight for SARS coronaviruses CoV and CoV-2 using OMI satellite data for the sunlit Earth, Air Qual. Atmos Health,
doi:10.1007/s11869-020-00927-2Herman, Piacentini, UVB (290-315 nm) inactivation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus as a function of the standard UV index, Air Qual. Atmos. Health,
doi:10.1007/s11869-021-01099-3Hobday, Collignon, An Old Defence Against New Infections: The Open-Air Factor and COVID-19, Cureus,
doi:10.7759/cureus.26133Holick, Biological Effects of Sunlight, Ultraviolet Radiation, Visible Light, Infrared Radiation and Vitamin D for Health, Anticancer Res
Iqbal, Rafiq, Masooma, None
Isaia, Diémoz, Maluta, Fountoulakis, Ceccon et al., Does solar ultraviolet radiation play a role in COVID-19 infection and deaths? An environmental ecological study in Italy, Sci. Total Environ,
doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143757Jain, Sharma, Goyal, Kaushal, Sethi, Econometric analysis of COVID-19 cases, deaths, and meteorological factors in South Asia, Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res,
doi:10.1007/s11356-021-12613-6Jiang, Xu, The association between COVID-19 deaths and short-term ambient air pollution/meteorological condition exposure: A retrospective study from Wuhan, China, Air Qual. Atmos. Health,
doi:10.1007/s11869-020-00906-7Lansiaux, Pébaÿ, Picard, Forget, COVID-19 and vit-d: Disease mortality negatively correlates with sunlight exposure, Spat. Spatio Temporal Epidemiol,
doi:10.1016/j.sste.2020.100362Li, Guan, Wu, Wang, Zhou et al., Early Transmission Dynamics in Wuhan, China, of Novel Coronavirus-Infected Pneumonia, N. Engl. J. Med,
doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2001316Linton, Kobayashi, Yang, Hayashi, Akhmetzhanov et al., Incubation Period and Other Epidemiological Characteristics of 2019 Novel Coronavirus Infections with Right Truncation: A Statistical Analysis of Publicly Available Case Data, J. Clin. Med,
doi:10.3390/jcm9020538Lv, Liu, Qi, Gong, Zhou et al., Sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 to different temperatures, Anim. Model. Exp. Med,
doi:10.1002/ame2.12141Mercola, Grant, Wagner, Evidence Regarding Vitamin D and Risk of COVID-19 and Its Severity, Nutrients,
doi:10.3390/nu12113361Mozumder, Amin, Uddin, Talukder, Coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak and control: Effect of temperature, relative humidity, and lockdown implementation, Arch. Pediatr,
doi:10.1016/j.arcped.2020.12.006Nandin De Carvalho, Latitude impact on pandemic Sars-CoV-2 2020 outbreaks and possible utility of UV indexes in predictions of regional daily infections and deaths, J. Photochem. Photobiol,
doi:10.1016/j.jpap.2022.100108Nicastro, Sironi, Antonello, Bianco, Biasin et al., Solar UV-B/A radiation is highly effective in inactivating SARS-CoV-2, Sci. Rep,
doi:10.1038/s41598-021-94417-9Paez, Lopez, Menezes, Cavalcanti, Pitta, A Spatio-Temporal Analysis of the Environmental Correlates of COVID-19 Incidence in Spain, Geogr. Anal,
doi:10.1111/gean.12241Panigrahi, Mohapatra, Kanyari, Maharana, Panigrahi, Impact of environmental temperature and relative humidity on spread of COVID-19 infection in India: A cross-sectional time-series analysis, Arch. Environ. Occup. Health,
doi:10.1080/19338244.2021.1910117Schuit, Ratnesar-Shumate, Yolitz, Williams, Weaver et al., Airborne SARS-CoV-2 Is Rapidly Inactivated by Simulated Sunlight, J. Infect. Dis,
doi:10.1093/infdis/jiaa334Sharma, Bansal, Yadav, Jain, Garg, Meteorological factors, COVID-19 cases, and deaths in top 10 most affected countries: An econometric investigation, Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res,
doi:10.1007/s11356-021-12668-5Stadnytskyi, Bax, Bax, Anfinrud, The airborne lifetime of small speech droplets and their potential importance in SARS-CoV-2 transmission,
doi:10.1073/pnas.2006874117Tang, Liu, Ren, Wu, Yu et al., Sunlight ultraviolet radiation dose is negatively correlated with the percent positive of SARS-CoV-2 and four other common human coronaviruses in the U, S. Sci. Total Environ,
doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141816Tareen, Ahmad, Nawaz, Khan, Riaz et al., The SARS-CoV-2 differential genomic adaptation in response to varying UVindex reveals potential genomic resources for better COVID-19 diagnosis and prevention, Front. Microbiol,
doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.922393Walrand, Autumn COVID-19 surge dates in Europe correlated to latitudes, not to temperature-humidity, pointing to vitamin D as contributing factor, Sci. Rep,
doi:10.1038/s41598-021-81419-wWang, Tang, Feng, Lin, Lv et al., Impact of temperature and relative humidity on the transmission of COVID-19: A modelling study in China and the United States, BMJ Open,
doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-043863Wu, Jing, Liu, Ma, Yuan et al., Effects of temperature and humidity on the daily new cases and new deaths of COVID-19 in 166 countries, Sci. Total Environ,
doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139051Xu, Rahmandad, Gupta, Digennaro, Ghaffarzadegan et al., Weather, air pollution, and SARS-CoV-2 transmission: A global analysis, Lancet Planet Health,
doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00202-3Yang, Yu, Xu, Shu, Xia et al., Clinical course and outcomes of critically ill patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia in Wuhan, China: A single-centered, retrospective, observational study, Lancet Respir. Med,
doi:10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30079-5Zaazouee, Eleisawy, Abdalalaziz, Elhady, Ali et al., Hospital and laboratory outcomes of patients with COVID-19 who received vitamin D supplementation: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Naunyn Schmiedeberg's, Arch. Pharmacol,
doi:10.1007/s00210-022-02360-x
