TY - JOUR T1 - Air quality in Mexico City during the COVID-19 lockdown possibly decreased COPD exacerbations JF - ERJ Open Research JO - erjor DO - 10.1183/23120541.00183-2022 SP - 00183-2022 AU - Francisco Montiel-Lopez AU - Daniela Rodríguez-Ramírez AU - Maricruz Cassou-Martínez AU - María Cristina Miranda-Márquez AU - Claudia González-González AU - Raúl H. Sansores AU - María Eugenia Mayar-Maya AU - Rogelio Pérez-Padilla AU - Robinson Emmanuel Robles-Hernández AU - Ireri Thirion-Romero AU - Oliver Pérez-Bautista AU - Alejandra Ramírez-Venegas Y1 - 2022/01/01 UR - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/early/2022/06/30/23120541.00183-2022.abstract N2 - During the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic, different authors have been reported that COPD acute exacerbations (AECOPD) were reduced [1–4]. In Mexico City, during the beginning of the pandemic, a voluntary lockdown was declared and therefore the adherence to health measures were more flexible and less stringent in the general population than in other countries [5]. However, because there was a reduction of exposure to air pollutants such as PM10, PM2.5, and total suspended particles levels during this 1st year of the pandemic, especially patients living in urban areas like Mexico City, AECOPD could be diminished as other countries have been reported [1–4]. In rural areas of Mexico, because the lack of access to clean energy, many women in these communities cook their food by burning firewood, exposing themselves to biomass smoke almost all day throughout their lives, making them more susceptible to develop COPD. Regarding COPD exacerbations due to biomass in rural areas during COVID-19 pandemic, should not decrease because the environment pollutants did not change. The primary objective of this study was to investigate if there was a reduction in AECOPD during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison with the previous year. Because women with biomass exposure represent an important group of COPD in Mexico [6], therefore a secondary objective was to investigate the difference in AECOPD between the COPD due to biomass exposure (BE-COPD) and the COPD due to tobacco smoking (TE-COPD) groups.FootnotesThis manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the ERJ Open Research. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJOR online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.Conflict of interest: The authors confirm that there are no relevant financial or non-financial competing interests to report.Conflict of interest: Francisco Montiel-Lopez has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Daniela Rodríguez-Ramírez has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Maricruz Cassou-Martínez has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: María Cristina Miranda-Márquez has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Claudia González-González has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Raúl H. Sansores has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: María Eugenia Mayar-Maya has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Rogelio Pérez-Padilla has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Robinson Emmanuel Robles-Hernández has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Ireri Thirion-Romero has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Oliver Pérez-Bautista has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Alejandra Ramírez-Venegas has nothing to disclose. ER -