Timothy M Thomson1,2, Fresia Casas3, Harold Andre Guerrero3, Rómulo Figueroa-Mujíca4, Francisco C Villafuerte4, Claudia Machicado3,5. 1. Institute for Molecular Biology, National Science Council (IBMB-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain. 2. Networked Center for Biomedical Research in Hepatic and Digestive Diseases (CIBER-EHD), Instituto Nacional de la Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. 3. Laboratory of Translational Research and Computational Biology, Facultad de Ciencias y Filosofía-LID, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Perú. 4. Laboratorio de Fisiología del Transporte de Oxígeno, Facultad de Ciencias y Filosofía-LID, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Perú. 5. Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems (BIFI), Zaragoza, Spain.
Abstract
Thomson, Timothy M., Fresia Casas, Harold Andre Guerrero, Rómulo Figueroa-Mujíca, Francisco C. Villafuerte, and Claudia Machicado. Potential protective effect from COVID-19 conferred by altitude: A longitudinal analysis in Peru during full lockdown. High Alt Med Biol. 22: 209-224, 2021. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had a delayed onset in America. Despite the time advantage for the implementation of preventative measures to contain its spread, the pandemic followed growth rates that paralleled those observed before in Europe. Objectives: To analyze the temporal and geographical distribution of the COVID-19 pandemic at district-level in Perú during the full lockdown period in 2020. Methods: Analysis of publicly available data sets, stratified by altitude and geographical localization. Correlation tests of COVID-19 case and death rates to population prevalence of comorbidities. Results: We observe a strong protective effect of altitude from COVID-19 mortality in populations located above 2,500 m. We provide evidence that internal migration through a specific land route is a significant factor progressively overriding the protection from COVID-19 afforded by high altitude. This protection is independent of poverty indexes and is inversely correlated with the prevalence of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia. Discussion: Long-term adaptation to residency at high altitude may be the third general protective factor from COVID-19 severity and death, after young age and female sex. Multisystemic adaptive traits or acclimatization processes in response to chronic hypobaric hypoxia may explain the apparent protective effect of high altitude from COVID-19 death.
Thomson, Timothy M., Fresia Casas, Harold Andre Guerrero, Rómulo Figueroa-Mujíca, Francisco C. Villafuerte, and Claudia Machicado. Potential protective effect from COVID-19 conferred by altitude: A longitudinal analysis in Peru during full lockdown. High Alt Med Biol. 22: 209-224, 2021. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had a delayed onset in America. Despite the time advantage for the implementation of preventative measures to contain its spread, the pandemic followed growth rates that paralleled those observed before in Europe. Objectives: To analyze the temporal and geographical distribution of the COVID-19 pandemic at district-level in Perú during the full lockdown period in 2020. Methods: Analysis of publicly available data sets, stratified by altitude and geographical localization. Correlation tests of COVID-19 case and death rates to population prevalence of comorbidities. Results: We observe a strong protective effect of altitude from COVID-19mortality in populations located above 2,500 m. We provide evidence that internal migration through a specific land route is a significant factor progressively overriding the protection from COVID-19 afforded by high altitude. This protection is independent of poverty indexes and is inversely correlated with the prevalence of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia. Discussion: Long-term adaptation to residency at high altitude may be the third general protective factor from COVID-19 severity and death, after young age and female sex. Multisystemic adaptive traits or acclimatization processes in response to chronic hypobaric hypoxia may explain the apparent protective effect of high altitude from COVID-19death.
Authors: Charles Huamaní; Lucio Velásquez; Sonia Montes; Ana Mayanga-Herrera; Antonio Bernabé-Ortiz Journal: PeerJ Date: 2021-09-20 Impact factor: 2.984
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