COVID-19: Increased exposure to sunlight may lowed deaths; says new study

A new study by the researchers of the University of Edinburgh has revealed that increased exposure to the sun’s rays, specifically UVA, could result in a decrease in the COVID-19 deaths. As per experts, this can act as a simple public health intervention. As a part of the study, the researchers compared all the recorded deaths in the United States from Covid-19, beginning from January to April 2020. This was done keeping in mind the UV levels for 2,474 US counties for the same time period.

Sun rays to prevent COVID-19 deaths 

The researchers considered factors which were associated with increased exposure to the virus and risk of death. The factors included age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, population density, air pollution, temperature, and levels of infection in local areas. It was then concluded that people living in areas with the highest level of exposure to UVA rays had a lower risk of dying from the deadly coronavirus, compared with those with lower levels. The analysis was repeated in England and Italy and the results were the same.

Corresponding author, consultant dermatologist and Reader at the University of Edinburgh said, “There is still so much we don’t understand about Covid-19, which has resulted in so many deaths worldwide. These early results open up sunlight exposure as one way of potentially reducing the risk of death”. 

The experts said that the reduced risk of death from Covid-19 could not be explained by higher levels of vitamin D. This is because the areas which have insufficient levels of UVB to produce significant vitamin D in the body were included in the study. Professor Chris Dibben, Chair in Health Geography at the University of Edinburgh and Co-author said, “The relationship between Covid-19 mortality, season and latitude has been quite striking, here we offer an alternative explanation for this phenomenon”. The same team, in their previous research mentioned that increased sunlight exposure is linked to improved cardiovascular health, lower blood pressure and fewer heart attacks.

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