Investigating the Relation between Meteorological Parameters and the Number of Patients and Clinical Symptoms of Outpatients with COVID-19: A Case Study in Abarkouh, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: SARS CoV-2 pandemic has caused illness and death in millions of people worldwide. Extensive studies are being conducted on the effect of meteorological parameters on the number of patients and clinical symptoms of COVID-19. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in Abarkouh city with a population of 51199 people during 215 days (from April 20, 2020 to November 20, 2020).  The present study aimed to investigate the effect of meteorological parameters, such as temperature, humidity, sunshine hours, evaporation, and maximum wind speed on the number of cases with definite diagnosis of COVID-19. Moreover, symptoms in the infected patients were assessed using Pearson correlation coefficient and regression coefficient. Results: During the 215 days of the study, a total of 2526 symptoms were diagnosed in 1298 outpatients. Among which, fever and body aches were the most common symptoms in the subjects. The results of examining the relationship between meteorological parameters and the prevalence of symptoms showed that there was a negative correlation between the minimum and maximum temperature, sunshine hours, evaporation, and wind speed with the number of cases and the prevalence of symptoms. The results of regression coefficient also showed that among the meteorological parameters, the minimum temperature variable had the most negative effect on the prevalence of symptoms as well as the number of cases. Conclusion: The results showed that changing the meteorological parameters in cold weather can increase both the number of patients and clinical symptoms of outpatients with COVID-19.