Long-term cigarette smoking is associated with a number of serious diseases, but not COVID-19. In fact, numerous studies demonstrate that smokers are far less likely to be diagnosed with coronavirus than are non-smokers.
In June, Konstantinos Farsalinos and colleagues reviewed 18 published reports, finding “an unexpectedly low prevalence of current smoking among hospitalized patients with COVID-19.” (here).
It is, however, an understatement to say that the quality of COVID-19 information and data is poor. That partly explains why the protective effect of smoking has not generated significant mainstream interest. That is likely to change.
Last week, researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Nottingham published a prospective cohort study of 19,500 coronavirus patients in the UK, 1,300 of whom ended up in intensive care units (ICUs) (here). Their analysis, published in the British Medical Journal, found that smokers are far less likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 and less likely to be admitted to an ICU.
Brad Rodu – Tabacco Truth – August 11, 2020.
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