Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, researchers focused their efforts in evaluating any possible risk factor that could lead to negative health outcomes in Covid-19 patients.
Given that the Sars-CoV-2 infection is a respiratory pathology, the relationship between Covid-19 infection and smoking, a well-known risk factor for cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, was the object of several scientific researches.
According to one of the first studies on the subject, the number of smokers with severe COVID-19 that requires hospitalization was by far lower than expected based on population smoking rates. The very few smokers who were eventually hospitalized had higher odds for severe disease and adverse outcome.
What is the impact of smoking on Sars-Cov-2 infection?
CoEHAR, in partnership with Duke University (USA) and thanks to the collaboration with the research institute IRCCS “Oasi di Troina” and the municipality of the city of Troina, carried out a sero-epidemiological population study through a probabilistic large sample stratified by sex and age and all the healthcare workers of the dell’IRCCS Oasi Maria SS. of Troina.
The Troina project defines a cohort study conducted between July and September 2020 in Troina, a municipality of Sicily who has been declared “red zone” due the rapid spread of the infection. Considering the high number of infected, researchers wanted to investigate the incidence of Covid-19 infection through serological tests on the general population and the healthcare workers of IRCCS “Oasi di Troina”.
To detect the status of smokers, it was decided to associate the declarations of the participants with the identification of a specific biological indicator, cotinine, a serum metabolite of nicotine.
Chiara Nobis – Catania Conversation – 2022-04-14