Cargando…

Susceptibility to COVID-19 after High Exposure to Perfluoroalkyl Substances from Contaminated Drinking Water: An Ecological Study from Ronneby, Sweden

There is concern that immunotoxic environmental contaminants, particularly perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), may play a role in the clinical course of COVID-19 and epidemiologic studies are needed to answer if high-exposed populations are especially vulnerable in light of the ongoing pandemic. The o...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Nielsen, Christel, Jöud, Anna
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8535293/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34682448
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010702
_version_ 1784587745539129344
author Nielsen, Christel
Jöud, Anna
author_facet Nielsen, Christel
Jöud, Anna
author_sort Nielsen, Christel
collection PubMed
description There is concern that immunotoxic environmental contaminants, particularly perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), may play a role in the clinical course of COVID-19 and epidemiologic studies are needed to answer if high-exposed populations are especially vulnerable in light of the ongoing pandemic. The objective was, therefore, to determine if exposure to highly PFAS-contaminated drinking water was associated with an increased incidence of COVID-19 in Ronneby, Sweden, during the first year of the pandemic. We conducted an ecological study determining the sex- and age-standardized incidence ratio (SIR) in the adult population relative to a neighboring reference town with similar demographic characteristics but with only background levels of exposure. In Sweden, COVID-19 is subject to mandatory reporting, and we retrieved aggregated data on all verified cases until 3 March 2021 from the Public Health Agency of Sweden. The SIR in Ronneby was estimated at 1.19 (95% CI: 1.12; 1.27). The results suggest a potential link between high PFAS exposure and susceptibility to COVID-19 that warrants further research to clarify causality.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8535293
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-85352932021-10-23 Susceptibility to COVID-19 after High Exposure to Perfluoroalkyl Substances from Contaminated Drinking Water: An Ecological Study from Ronneby, Sweden Nielsen, Christel Jöud, Anna Int J Environ Res Public Health Article There is concern that immunotoxic environmental contaminants, particularly perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), may play a role in the clinical course of COVID-19 and epidemiologic studies are needed to answer if high-exposed populations are especially vulnerable in light of the ongoing pandemic. The objective was, therefore, to determine if exposure to highly PFAS-contaminated drinking water was associated with an increased incidence of COVID-19 in Ronneby, Sweden, during the first year of the pandemic. We conducted an ecological study determining the sex- and age-standardized incidence ratio (SIR) in the adult population relative to a neighboring reference town with similar demographic characteristics but with only background levels of exposure. In Sweden, COVID-19 is subject to mandatory reporting, and we retrieved aggregated data on all verified cases until 3 March 2021 from the Public Health Agency of Sweden. The SIR in Ronneby was estimated at 1.19 (95% CI: 1.12; 1.27). The results suggest a potential link between high PFAS exposure and susceptibility to COVID-19 that warrants further research to clarify causality. MDPI 2021-10-12 /pmc/articles/PMC8535293/ /pubmed/34682448 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010702 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Nielsen, Christel
Jöud, Anna
Susceptibility to COVID-19 after High Exposure to Perfluoroalkyl Substances from Contaminated Drinking Water: An Ecological Study from Ronneby, Sweden
title Susceptibility to COVID-19 after High Exposure to Perfluoroalkyl Substances from Contaminated Drinking Water: An Ecological Study from Ronneby, Sweden
title_full Susceptibility to COVID-19 after High Exposure to Perfluoroalkyl Substances from Contaminated Drinking Water: An Ecological Study from Ronneby, Sweden
title_fullStr Susceptibility to COVID-19 after High Exposure to Perfluoroalkyl Substances from Contaminated Drinking Water: An Ecological Study from Ronneby, Sweden
title_full_unstemmed Susceptibility to COVID-19 after High Exposure to Perfluoroalkyl Substances from Contaminated Drinking Water: An Ecological Study from Ronneby, Sweden
title_short Susceptibility to COVID-19 after High Exposure to Perfluoroalkyl Substances from Contaminated Drinking Water: An Ecological Study from Ronneby, Sweden
title_sort susceptibility to covid-19 after high exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances from contaminated drinking water: an ecological study from ronneby, sweden
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8535293/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34682448
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010702
work_keys_str_mv AT nielsenchristel susceptibilitytocovid19afterhighexposuretoperfluoroalkylsubstancesfromcontaminateddrinkingwateranecologicalstudyfromronnebysweden
AT joudanna susceptibilitytocovid19afterhighexposuretoperfluoroalkylsubstancesfromcontaminateddrinkingwateranecologicalstudyfromronnebysweden