COVID-19 cases fell across 81 nursing homes fitted with new air purification technology, highlighting the part air quality interventions can play in supporting infection control measures, a new study has found.
Researchers from Brown University said they took advantage of a “natural experiment” when a nursing home operator installed ultraviolet air purification in the HVAC systems of facilities across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. The study ran between July 27, 2020 and September 10, 2020.
The investigators used data from a variety of sources to compare trends in weekly COVID-19 cases and deaths before and after the installations. This included weekly case and death data from the Nursing Home COVID-19 Public Health File, public data on nursing home characteristics, county level COVID-19 cases and/or deaths and outside air temperature. Results were controlled for county level COVID-19 cases, death and heat index.
Weekly COVID-19 cases per 1,000 residents and the likelihood of reporting any COVID-19 case declined after the air purification technology was installed. There was no difference in mortality pre- and post-installation, study lead Eric Jutkowitz, PhD, and colleagues reported.
The effect estimates were imprecise and not statistically significant, and larger studies are needed to confirm the findings. But the results are the first evidence to support a potential association between air purification and improved COVID-19 outcomes in the nursing home setting, the authors said.
“Residents spend the majority of their time indoors, and there is a growing body of evidence that demonstrates air quality in nursing homes may be suboptimal,” Jutkowitz and colleagues wrote. Residents may also be more susceptible to the effects of indoor air pollutants and particulate matter due to the prevalence of complex, comorbid health conditions, they added.
“Intervening on air quality may have a wide impact without placing significant burden on individuals to modify their behavior,” the authors concluded.
The study, The Benefits of Nursing Home Air Purification on COVID-19 Outcomes: A Natural Experiment, was published in JAMDA.
Related articles:
Portable air purifiers cut airborne pathogens by 64% in SNF study
Air purification installation cuts infections by 40% in continuing care facility
Portable air purifiers improve cardiovascular health in COPD, researchers find
