好英语网研究称空气污染程度与新冠致死率有关
WASHINGTON — Coronavirus patients in areas that had high levels of air pollution before the pandemic are more likely to die from the infection than patients in cleaner parts of the country, according to a new nationwide study that offers the first clear link between long-term exposure to pollution and Covid-19 death rates.
华盛顿——一项新的全国性研究首次提供了长期暴露于污染和Covid-19死亡率之间的明确关联，该研究表明，在疫情暴发前空气污染严重的地区，其新冠病毒患者比该国污染较轻地区的新冠病毒患者更容易死于感染。
In an analysis of 3,080 counties in the United States, researchers at the Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that higher levels of the tiny, dangerous particles in air known as PM 2.5 were associated with higher death rates from the disease.
在对美国3080个县进行的分析中，哈佛大学陈曾熙公共卫生学院(Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health)发现，空气中细小而危险的PM2.5颗粒的高含量水平与该疾病的较高死亡率存在关联。
For weeks, public health officials have surmised a link between dirty air and death or serious illness from Covid-19, which is caused by the coronavirus. The Harvard analysis is the first nationwide study to show a statistical link, revealing a “large overlap” between Covid-19 deaths and other diseases associated with long-term exposure to fine particulate matter.
数周以来，公共卫生官员一直猜测被污染的空气与冠状病毒引起的Covid-19致死或重症之间有关联。哈佛大学的分析是全国首个表明统计学上存在关联的研究，揭示了Covid-19死亡与长期暴露于细颗粒物相关的其他疾病之间的“重大重叠”。
周六傍晚的亚特兰大。该地区可能会比相邻的乔治亚州道格拉斯县经受更多死亡。
“The results of this paper suggest that long-term exposure to air pollution increases vulnerability to experiencing the most severe Covid-19 outcomes,” the authors wrote.
作者写道：“本文的结果表明，长期暴露于空气污染中会增加遭受Covid-19最严重后果的易感性。”
The paper found that if Manhattan had lowered its average particulate matter level by just a single unit, or one microgram per cubic meter, over the past 20 years, the borough would most likely have seen 248 fewer Covid-19 deaths by this point in the outbreak.
该论文发现，如果曼哈顿在过去20年中将其平均颗粒物水平降低一个单位——也就是每立方米降低1微克，那么到了今天，该区很可能就能减少248例Covid-19死亡病例。
Over all, the research could have significant implications for how public health officials choose to allocate resources like ventilators and respirators as the coronavirus spreads. The paper has been submitted for peer review and publication in the New England Journal of Medicine.
总体而言，该研究可能会对公共卫生官员在冠状病毒传播时期对呼吸机等资源的分配问题上产生重大影响。该论文已提交至《新英格兰医学杂志》(New England Journal of Medicine)进行同行评审和发表。
It found that just a slight increase in long-term pollution exposure could have serious coronavirus-related consequences, even accounting for other factors like smoking rates and population density.
研究发现，长期污染暴露的轻微上升就可能会带来与冠状病毒相关的严重后果，即使算上吸烟率和人口密度等其他因素也是如此。
For example, it found that a person living for decades in a county with high levels of fine particulate matter is 15 percent more likely to die from the coronavirus than someone in a region with one unit less of the fine particulate pollution.
例如，研究发现，在细颗粒物含量高的县里生活了数十年的人比在细颗粒物污染小一个单位量的地区的人死于冠状病毒的可能性要高15％。
The District of Columbia, for instance, is likely to have a higher death rate than the adjacent Montgomery County, Md. Cook County, Ill., which includes Chicago, should be worse than nearby Lake County, Ill. Fulton County, Ga., which includes Atlanta, is likely to suffer more deaths than the adjacent Douglas County.
例如，哥伦比亚特区的死亡率可能会比邻近的马里兰州蒙哥马里县要高。包括芝加哥在内的伊利诺伊州库克县的死亡率应比附近的伊利诺伊州湖县要糟糕。包括亚特兰大在内的乔治亚州富尔顿县可能比相邻的道格拉斯县遭受更多的死亡。
“This study provides evidence that counties that have more polluted air will experience higher risks of death for Covid-19,” said Francesca Dominici, a professor of biostatistics at Harvard who led the study.
领导这项研究的哈佛大学生物统计学教授弗朗西斯卡·多米尼奇(Francesca Dominici)说：“这项研究提供的证据表明，空气污染程度越高的县，Covid-19的致死风险就越高。”
Counties with higher pollution levels, Dr. Dominici said, “will be the ones that will have higher numbers of hospitalizations, higher numbers of deaths and where many of the resources should be concentrated.”
多米尼奇博士表示，空气污染水平较高的县“将是那些住院人数、死亡人数较多，众多资源应该集中的县。”
The study is part of a small but growing body of research, mostly still out of Europe, that offers a view into how a lifetime of breathing dirtier air can make people more susceptible to the coronavirus, which has already killed more than 10,000 people in the United States and 74,000 worldwide.
该研究是一项规模尚小但正在不断增长中的研究的一部分——整体研究绝大部分仍在欧洲之外进行。这项研究为解释终生呼吸污染程度更高的空气是如何使人们更容易感染新冠病毒的提供了一种观点。新冠病毒已经在美国造成1万多人死亡，在全世界造成7.4万人死亡。
In the short term, Dr. Dominici and other public health experts said the study’s finding meant that places like the Central Valley of California, or Cuyahoga County, Ohio, may need to prepare for more severe cases of Covid-19.
多米尼奇博士和其他公共卫生专家说，该发现意味着短期内像加利福尼亚中央山谷或俄亥俄州凯霍加县这样的地方可能需要为更严重的Covid-19疫情做准备。
The analysis did not look at individual patient data and did not answer why some parts of the country have been hit harder than others. It also remains unclear whether particulate matter pollution plays any role in the spread of the coronavirus or whether long-term exposure directly leads to a greater risk of falling ill.
这项研究没有分析单个病人的数据，也没有回答为什么美国一些地区受到的打击比其他地区更大的问题。目前还不清楚颗粒物污染是否与新冠病毒的传播有关，也不清楚长期暴露于污染下是否会直接导致更大的患病风险。
Dr. John R. Balmes, a spokesman for the American Lung Association and a professor of medicine at University of California, San Francisco, said the findings were particularly important for hospitals in poor neighborhoods and communities of color, which tend to be exposed to higher levels of air pollution than affluent, white communities.
美国肺脏协会(American Lung Association)发言人、加州大学旧金山分校医学教授约翰·R·巴尔姆斯(John R. Balmes)说，这些发现对贫困社区和有色人种社区的医院尤为重要。这些社区往往比富裕的白人社区受到更高水平的空气污染。
“We need to make sure that hospitals taking care of folks who are more vulnerable and with even greater air pollution exposure have the resources they need,” Dr. Balmes said.
巴尔姆斯博士说：“我们需要确保医院能够为那些弱势的、暴露在空气污染程度更高地区的人提供他们所需要的资源。”
As more is learned about the recurrence of Covid-19, the study also could have far-reaching implications for clean-air regulations, which the Trump administration has worked to roll back over the past three years on the grounds that they have been onerous to industry.
随着对Covid-19复发的更多了解，这项研究也可能对空气质量监管产生深远影响，特朗普政府过去三年一直以清洁空气监管对工业造成沉重负担为由，努力削弱这类监管。
Multiple studies have found that exposure to fine particulate matter puts people at heightened risk for lung cancer, heart attacks, strokes and even premature death. In 2003, Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang, the associate dean for research at the University of California, Los Angeles, Fielding School of Public Health, found that SARS patients in the most polluted parts of China were twice as likely to die from the disease as those in places with low air pollution.
多项研究发现，暴露在细小颗粒物下会增加人们罹患肺癌、心脏病、中风甚至早逝的风险。2003年，美国加州大学洛杉矶分校菲尔丁公共卫生学院研究副院长张作风博士发现，中国污染最严重地区的SARS患者死于该病的可能性是空气污染程度较低地区的两倍。
In an interview, Dr. Zhang called the Harvard study “very much consistent” with his findings.
在一次采访中，张作风博士称哈佛的研究与他的发现“非常一致”。