IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i5p2578-d510624.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Altitude and SARS-CoV-2 Infection in the First Pandemic Wave in Spain

Author

Listed:
  • Jesús Castilla

    (Instituto de Salud Pública de Navarra, 31003 Pamplona, Spain
    CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), 28029 Madrid, Spain
    Navarre Institute for Health Research (IdiSNA), 31008 Pamplona, Spain)

  • Ujué Fresán

    (Instituto de Salud Pública de Navarra, 31003 Pamplona, Spain
    CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), 28029 Madrid, Spain
    Instituto de Salud Global (ISGlobal), 08036 Barcelona, Spain)

  • Camino Trobajo-Sanmartín

    (Navarre Institute for Health Research (IdiSNA), 31008 Pamplona, Spain
    Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra, 31008 Pamplona, Spain)

  • Marcela Guevara

    (Instituto de Salud Pública de Navarra, 31003 Pamplona, Spain
    CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), 28029 Madrid, Spain
    Navarre Institute for Health Research (IdiSNA), 31008 Pamplona, Spain)

Abstract

After the first pandemic wave, a nationwide survey assessed the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in Spain and found notable differences among provinces whose causes remained unclear. This ecological study aimed to analyze the association between environmental and demographic factors and SARS-CoV-2 infection by province. The seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies by province was obtained from a nationwide representative survey performed in June 2020, after the first pandemic wave in Spain. Linear regression was used in the analysis. The seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies of the 50 provinces ranged from 0.2% to 13.6%. The altitude, which ranged from 5 to 1131 m, explained nearly half of differences in seroprevalence ( R 2 = 0.47, p < 0.001). The seroprevalence in people residing in provinces above the median altitude (215 m) was three-fold higher (6.5% vs. 2.1%, p < 0.001). In the multivariate linear regression, the addition of population density significantly improved the predictive value of the altitude ( R 2 = 0.55, p < 0.001). Every 100 m of altitude increase and 100 inhabitants/km 2 of increase in population density, the seroprevalence rose 0.84 and 0.63 percentage points, respectively. Environmental conditions related to higher altitude in winter–spring, such as lower temperatures and absolute humidity, may be relevant to SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Places with such adverse conditions may require additional efforts for pandemic control.

Suggested Citation

  • Jesús Castilla & Ujué Fresán & Camino Trobajo-Sanmartín & Marcela Guevara, 2021. "Altitude and SARS-CoV-2 Infection in the First Pandemic Wave in Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-8, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:5:p:2578-:d:510624
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2578/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2578/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ennio Cascetta & Ilaria Henke & Luigi Di Francesco, 2021. "The Effects of Air Pollution, Sea Exposure and Altitude on COVID-19 Hospitalization Rates in Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-11, January.
    2. Ploutarchos Tzampoglou & Dimitrios Loukidis, 2020. "Investigation of the Importance of Climatic Factors in COVID-19 Worldwide Intensity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-25, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Esteban Ortiz-Prado & Katherine Simbaña-Rivera & Raul Fernandez-Naranjo & Jorge Eduardo Vásconez & Aquiles R. Henriquez-Trujillo & Alexander Paolo Vallejo-Janeta & Ismar A. Rivera-Olivero & Tannya Loz, 2022. "SARS-CoV-2 Viral Load Analysis at Low and High Altitude: A Case Study from Ecuador," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-10, June.
    2. Khalid Hajissa & Md Asiful Islam & Siti Asma Hassan & Abdul Rahman Zaidah & Nabilah Ismail & Zeehaida Mohamed, 2022. "Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-14, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Karla Romero Starke & René Mauer & Ethel Karskens & Anna Pretzsch & David Reissig & Albert Nienhaus & Anna Lene Seidler & Andreas Seidler, 2021. "The Effect of Ambient Environmental Conditions on COVID-19 Mortality: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-20, June.
    2. Dusan Jandacka & Daniela Durcanska, 2021. "Seasonal Variation, Chemical Composition, and PMF-Derived Sources Identification of Traffic-Related PM 1 , PM 2.5 , and PM 2.5–10 in the Air Quality Management Region of Žilina, Slovakia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-23, September.
    3. Nadia Yusuf & Lamia Saud Shesha, 2021. "Economic Role of Population Density during Pandemics—A Comparative Analysis of Saudi Arabia and China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-18, April.
    4. Johannes Burtscher & Gregoire P. Millet & Barbara Leitner & Martin Burtscher, 2022. "Health Benefits of Residence at Moderate Altitude Do Not Reduce COVID-19 Mortality," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-7, December.
    5. Weerawat Ounsaneha & Orapin Laosee & Cheerawit Rattanapan, 2024. "Influence of Environmental Risk Exposure on the Determinants of COVID-19 Booster Vaccination in an Urban Thai Population," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(6), pages 1-13, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:5:p:2578-:d:510624. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.