New Delhi: Researchers from Mumbai have suggested there may be an association between seasonal and geographical variations and Covid-19 deaths, based on a Chinese study and a comparison of fatality data from countries across the world.
In an article published Friday in the Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR), a team from the Homi Bhabha National Institute in Mumbai suggested that the underlying pathology, which is more prevalent in colder climates, may partially explain India’s low Covid-19 mortality rates in comparison to that of Western countries.
In the paper, the team explained that reports from China, the US and Europe suggested that venous thromboembolism — a condition in which a blood clot forms in the veins of the leg, groin or arm — is an important cause of death in Covid-19 patients.
These blood clots circulate through the veins and get lodged in the lung, preventing a healthy exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the lungs, which increases the risk of death.
Earlier attempts to draw correlations between the number of infections and seasonal variations saw scientists speculate that Covid-19 spread is slower in warmer climates. However, as the disease progressed and summer approached, the infection continued to spread. Studies also showed that heat and humidity did not curb the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19.
What the latest research says
The team, which includes Rajendra A. Badwe, Rajesh Dikshit, Pankaj Chaturvedi and Sudeep Gupta, said that comparisons of infection numbers between countries is unreliable because the number of cases identified can vary with the number of tests conducted.
We are deeply grateful to our readers & viewers for their time, trust and subscriptions.
Quality journalism is expensive and needs readers to pay for it. Your support will define our work and ThePrint’s future.
Instead, they said the number of deaths are better documented and hence are a more reliable metric for comparisons.
The authors pointed to a study from China which concluded that venous thromboembolism is less prevalent in warmer climates.
This indicated that people in colder climates are more predisposed to develop venous thromboembolism. Similarly, people living closer to the equator are less likely to develop this condition compared to those living in warmer climates.
This seasonal variation of venous thromboembolism may be linked to antiphospholipid antibodies, a type of protein that is mistakenly produced by the body, damaging cells and causing blood clots to form in the veins and arteries.
According to the authors, the role of these antiphospholipid antibodies in Covid-19 is yet to be understood.
But these observations suggest that seasonal and geographical variations in the antiphospholipid antibodies and venous thromboembolism could reduce Covid-19 mortality in warmer conditions, the researchers stated.
“It is likely that other differences such as those in age, comorbidity burden and other as yet unknown factors could account for the difference in population-level mortality between India and Western countries,” the researchers said in the paper.
This paper is not based on experimental findings conducted by the author, but rather a ‘viewpoint’ based on existing data and research.
The authors say that more long term data is needed to draw a more definitive conclusion about the link between climate and Covid-19 mortality.
Subscribe to our channels on YouTube & Telegram
News media is in a crisis & only you can fix it
You are reading this because you value good, intelligent and objective journalism. We thank you for your time and your trust.
You also know that the news media is facing an unprecedented crisis. It is likely that you are also hearing of the brutal layoffs and pay-cuts hitting the industry. There are many reasons why the media’s economics is broken. But a big one is that good people are not yet paying enough for good journalism.
We have a newsroom filled with talented young reporters. We also have the country’s most robust editing and fact-checking team, finest news photographers and video professionals. We are building India’s most ambitious and energetic news platform. And we aren’t even three yet.
At ThePrint, we invest in quality journalists. We pay them fairly and on time even in this difficult period. As you may have noticed, we do not flinch from spending whatever it takes to make sure our reporters reach where the story is. Our stellar coronavirus coverage is a good example. You can check some of it here.
This comes with a sizable cost. For us to continue bringing quality journalism, we need readers like you to pay for it. Because the advertising market is broken too.
If you think we deserve your support, do join us in this endeavour to strengthen fair, free, courageous, and questioning journalism, please click on the link below. Your support will define our journalism, and ThePrint’s future. It will take just a few seconds of your time.