Hoffmann, L.* ; Gilardi, L.* ; Antoni, T.* ; Baltruweit, M.* ; Bittner, M.* ; Breitner-Busch, S. ; Dally, S.* ; Erbertseder, T.* ; Hawighorst-Knapstein, S.* ; Schmitz, M.T.* ; Schneider, R.* ; Wüst, S.* ; Rittweger, J.*
     
 
    
        
Modulation of COVID-19 incidence by environmental stressors is variant between pre-Omicron and Omicron periods.
    
    
        
    
    
        
        Sci. Rep. 15:27636 (2025)
    
    
    
		
		
			
				COVID-19 had a devastating impact on humanity. We investigated how residential air pollution (ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), fine particulate matter (PM2.5)) and meteorological factors (temperature (Temp), precipitation (Prec)) are associated with COVID-19 incidence in Baden-Württemberg (BW), Germany. We utilized data from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service and the Copernicus Climate Change Service to model environmental exposure from 2020 to 2022 in postal code areas in BW. Health insurance data on SARS-CoV-2 infections were provided from the health insurance AOK BW on a quarterly level covering approximately 12 million person-years. We examined the spatiotemporal variability with a generalized additive model including various stressors, demographic factors, and area-wide data, offering a comprehensive analysis of the environmental stressor- COVI-10 incidence associations. In 2022, during the prevalence of the Omicron variant, the number of COVID-19 cases tripled compared to 2020. During the pre-Omicron period, COVID-19 incidence showed a positive association with PM2.5 (relative risk [RR] 2.41; 95% confidence interval [CI] (2.31, 2.52)), a negative association with Temp (RR 0.39 (0.32, 0.48)), and no clear or slight associations with O3, Prec, and NO2. During the Omicron period, there were either no clear or slight negative associations with Temp (RR 0.92 (0.74, 1.30)), PM2·5 (RR 0.70 (0.64, 0.79)), NO2, and Prec and a negative association with O3 (RR 0.46 (0.40, 0.53)). The analysis found clear links between environmental stressors and COVID-19 incidence, which strongly differed between pre-Omicron and Omicron periods. Consideration of environmental stressor concentration could be relevant in the management of the pandemic.
			
			
				
			
		 
		
			
				
					
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        Publikationstyp
        Artikel: Journalartikel
    
 
    
        Dokumenttyp
        Wissenschaftlicher Artikel
    
 
    
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        Herausgeber
        
    
    
        Schlagwörter
        Air-pollution; Exposure; System
    
 
    
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        Sprache
        englisch
    
 
    
        Veröffentlichungsjahr
        2025
    
 
    
        Prepublished im Jahr 
        0
    
 
    
        HGF-Berichtsjahr
        2025
    
 
    
    
        ISSN (print) / ISBN
        2045-2322
    
 
    
        e-ISSN
        2045-2322
    
 
    
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	    Band: 15,  
	    Heft: 1,  
	    Seiten: ,  
	    Artikelnummer: 27636 
	    Supplement: ,  
	
    
 
  
        
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            Verlag
            Nature Publishing Group
        
 
        
            Verlagsort
            London
        
 
	
        
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        Begutachtungsstatus
        Peer reviewed
    
 
    
        Institut(e)
        Institute of Epidemiology (EPI)
    
 
    
        POF Topic(s)
        30202 - Environmental Health
    
 
    
        Forschungsfeld(er)
        Genetics and Epidemiology
    
 
    
        PSP-Element(e)
        G-504000-001
    
 
    
        Förderungen
        AOK-BW
DLR
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)
Projekt DEAL
    
 
    
        Copyright
        
    
 	
    
    
    
    
    
        Erfassungsdatum
        2025-08-01