Investigation of the effect of weather on computerized tomography findings of lung in COVID-19 patients diagnosed by polymeraze chain ​​reaction (PCR)

Objective: The aim of the study is to reveal whether the current meteorological parameters have an effect on lung involvement in patients diagnosed with Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pneumonia. We aimed to investigate the effect of relative humidity, temperature, wind speed in the weather on the lung involvement of the disease. Method: Among the patients who applied to Ankara City Hospital Adult Emergency Medicine Clinic between 14.07.2020 – 31.08.2020, the demographic data of the patients whose thorax computerized tomography had typical involvement for COVID-19 and positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results, and the effect on the weather conditions of the region where they live. We compared temperature, relative humidity and wind speed with Computed Tomography Severity Score (CTSS-CT severity score) and lung involvement rate. Results: The study was conducted by evaluating 283 patients who met the inclusion criteria. 177 of them were male (62.5%) and 106 of them were female (37.5%). 272 of the patients (96.1%) live in the central district, and 11of them (3.9%) live in the non-central district. In the comparison made with CTSS and lung involvement rates, the meteorological parameters we studied (temperature, air and wind) were not statistically significant. Conclusion: In our study, we found that temperature, relative humidity and wind speed did not affect the localization of COVID-19 in the lungs. We can say that the blood parameters studied can give an idea in predicting the lung involvement of the patient. We think that more patient and multicenter studies are needed. Keywords: COVID-19, Weather, Temperature, Relative humidity, Ct Severity Score