CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Genomics and Molecular Medicine, Delhi, India.
Institute of Hypoxia Research, New Delhi, India.
PeerJ. 2023 Feb 6;11:e14473. doi: 10.7717/peerj.14473. eCollection 2023.
SARS-CoV-2 has affected every demography disproportionately, including even the native highland populations. Hypobaric-hypoxic settings at high-altitude (HA, >2,500 masl) present an extreme environment that impacts the survival of permanent residents, possibly including SARS-CoV-2. Conflicting hypotheses have been presented for COVID-19 incidence and fatality at HA.
To evaluate protection or risk against COVID-19 incidence and fatality in humans under hypobaric-hypoxic environment of high-altitude (>2,501 masl).
Global COVID-19 data of March 2020-21, employed from official websites of the Indian Government, John Hopkins University, and Worldometer were clustered into 6 altitude categories. Clinical cofactors and comorbidities data were evaluated with COVID-19 incidence and fatality. Extensive comparisons and correlations using several statistical tools estimated the risk and protection.
Of relevance, data analyses revealed four distinct responses, namely, partial risk, total risk, partial protection, and total protection from COVID-19 at high-altitude indicating a mixed baggage and complexity of the infection. Surprisingly, it included the countries within the same geographic region. Moreover, body mass index, hypertension, and diabetes correlated significantly with COVID-19 incidence and fatality rate ( ≤ 0.05).
Varied patterns of protection and risk against COVID-19 incidence and fatality were observed among the high-altitude populations. It is though premature to generalize COVID-19 effects on any particular demography without further extensive studies.
SARS-CoV-2 对不同人群的影响不均衡，甚至包括当地的高原人群。高海拔（HA，>2500 米）的低气压-低氧环境是一个极端环境，可能会影响常驻居民的生存，包括 SARS-CoV-2。对于高海拔地区 COVID-19 的发病率和死亡率，存在相互矛盾的假说。
评估人类在高海拔（>2501 米）低气压-低氧环境下对 COVID-19 发病率和死亡率的保护或风险。
采用 2020 年 3 月至 21 月全球 COVID-19 数据，来源于印度政府、约翰霍普金斯大学和世界卫生组织的官方网站。将临床合并症和合并症数据与 COVID-19 的发病率和死亡率进行评估。使用多种统计工具进行广泛比较和相关性分析，以评估风险和保护。
值得注意的是，数据分析显示了四种不同的反应，即高海拔地区 COVID-19 的部分风险、全部风险、部分保护和全部保护，这表明了感染的复杂性和混合性。令人惊讶的是，它包括了同一地理区域内的国家。此外，体重指数、高血压和糖尿病与 COVID-19 的发病率和死亡率显著相关（≤0.05）。
在高海拔地区人群中观察到 COVID-19 发病率和死亡率的保护和风险存在不同模式。在没有进一步广泛研究的情况下，对任何特定人群的 COVID-19 影响进行概括还为时过早。
