Sunlight exposure might account for the relatively low COVID-19 morbidity and mortality in tropical countries.

Autor:	Muhammad M; Graduate School (Neuroscience Program), Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, 40002 Khon Kaen, Thailand., Loong SK; Tropical Infectious Diseases Research & Education Centre, Higher Institution Centre of Excellence, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia., Khor CS; ropical Infectious Diseases Research & Education Centre, Higher Institution Centre of Excellence, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia., Mohd-Azami SNI; ropical Infectious Diseases Research & Education Centre, Higher Institution Centre of Excellence, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia., Kafle A; Tropical Medicine Graduate Program, Department of Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand., Useh U; Lifestyle Diseases, Faculty of Health, North-West University, Vanderbijlpark 1900, South Africa., Bello B; Lifestyle Diseases, Faculty of Health, North-West University, Vanderbijlpark 1900, South Africa., AbuBakar S; ropical Infectious Diseases Research & Education Centre, Higher Institution Centre of Excellence, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	Tropical biomedicine [Trop Biomed] 2024 Mar 01; Vol. 41 (1), pp. 78-83.
DOI:	10.47665/tb.41.1.010
Abstrakt:	The present study aimed at exploring whether sunlight exposure might account for the relative difference in COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality between tropical and non-tropical countries. A retrospective observational study was designed and data from the World Health Organization weekly COVID-19 epidemiological update was compiled. We examined the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100 000 population, as well as the total number of COVID-19-related mortalities per 100 000 population. Solar variables data were obtained from the Global Solar Atlas website (https://globalsolaratlas.info/). These data were analyzed to determine the association of sunlight exposure to COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality in tropical and non-tropical countries. Results revealed a statistically significant decrease in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100 000 population (P<0.001), as well as the number of COVID-19-related mortalities per 100 000 population (P<0.001) between tropical and non-tropical countries. Analyses of sunlight exposure data found that specific photovoltaic power output, global horizontal irradiation, diffuse horizontal irradiation and global tilted irradiation at optimum angle were significantly inversely correlated to COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality. This suggests that stronger sunlight exposure potentially leads to lower COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality. Findings from this study suggest that the relatively low COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality in tropical countries were possibly due to better sunlight exposure that translates into adequate vitamin D status.
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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