Correlation between polio immunization coverage and overall morbidity and mortality for COVID-19: an epidemiological study

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Mar 2. doi: 10.1007/s11356-021-12861-6. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTWe conducted the current analysis to determine the potential role of polio vaccination in the context of the spread of COVID-19. Data were extracted from the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Health Observatory data repository regarding the polio immunization coverage estimates and correlated to the overall morbidity and mortality for COVID-19 among different countries. Data were analyzed using R software version 4.0.2. Mean and standard deviation were used to represent continuous variables while we used frequencies and percentages to represent categorical variables. The Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for continuous variables since they were not normally distributed. Moreover, the Spearman rank correlation coefficient (rho) was used to determine the relationship between different variables. There was a significantly positive correlation between the vaccine coverage (%) and both of total cases per one million populations (rho = 0.37; p-value < 0.001) and deaths per one million populations (rho = 0.30; p-value < 0.001). Moreover, there was a significant correlation between different income groups and each of vaccine coverage (%) (rho = 0.71; p-value < 0.001), total cases per one million populations (rho = 0.50; p-value < 0.001), and deaths per one million populations (rho = 0.39; p-value < 0.001). All claims regarding the possible protective effect of Pol...

Source: Environmental Science and Pollution Research International - March 2, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Marwa Adel Afify Rakan M Alqahtani Mohammed Abdulrahman Mohammed Alzamil Faten Abdulrahman Khorshid Sumayyah Mohammad Almarshedy Sana Ghazi Alattas Talal Nabeel Alrawaf May Bin-Jumah Mohamed M Abdel-Daim Mohammad Almohideb Source Type: research