Coronavirus and smoking

Contents

Does smoking affect the risk of contracting coronavirus?
Smokers infection statistics
Can I smoke cigarettes if I have coronavirus?
Can I smoke hookah if I have coronavirus?
Does smoking kill coronavirus?
How is the coronavirus in smokers?
Is there a risk of a more severe course of coronavirus infection in a smoker?
Is it true that smokers don’t get coronavirus?
Popular questions and answers
- References:

In the situation of the spread of a little-studied and dangerous infection, options for how you can protect yourself inevitably become overgrown with a wide variety of myths. One such myth is the idea that the coronavirus is harmless to smokers.

It would seem that we all hear from childhood that smoking is an extremely dangerous habit. But at the beginning of the pandemic, sensational news spread around the world – smoking can reduce the risk of contracting a coronavirus infection caused by SARS-CoV-2. But is this true or is this another move of the tobacco lobby?

Does smoking affect the risk of contracting coronavirus?

The desire of people who find themselves in a pandemic situation to find a kind of “charm” in the form of some kind of thing or idea that you can cling to is quite understandable and logical. However, this relationship between coronavirus and smoking did not arise from scratch.

It is generally accepted that smoking weakens the lungs and, accordingly, a person becomes more vulnerable to respiratory diseases. In addition, smoking provokes tumor diseases, leads to severe bronchopulmonary diseases and heart problems.¹.

Smokers infection statistics

But if we look at the statistics, they show very unexpected data regarding the relationship between coronavirus and smoking.

In early February 2020, Chinese doctors published the results of a survey of 1099 infected people. And it turned out that 85,4% of the respondents turned out to be non-smokers (despite the fact that more than half of the male population of China and about a third of the entire adult population of the country are smokers)².

Some time later, the journal of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Allergy published an article on the clinical characteristics of 140 patients. Only two of them turned out to be active smokers, i.e. 1,4% of the total. Of course, these data are presented very carefully in the article, the authors urge not to draw any definite conclusions from the published results.³.

“The relationship between smoking and coronavirus infection is not clear, and the exact reasons underlying the decline in the incidence of COVID-19 in active smokers are still unknown,” the article notes. In addition, the authors ask that attention be paid to the fact that for people who smoke, the infection can have significantly more serious consequences than for those who do not smoke.

Materials on the analysis of the expression of the ACE2 gene, through which the new coronavirus enters the cell, suggest that smokers are more susceptible to infection.

And another study showed that among Chinese patients in whom COVID-19 caused pneumonia, the likelihood of complications of the disease and even death in smokers was 14 times higher than in those who did not smoke.⁴.

Scientists at Harvard University conducted a study in March 2020, the results of which showed that smokers have a 1,4 times higher risk of complications from coronavirus and a 2,4 times higher risk of being admitted to intensive care and even death than those who do not smoke.

Can I smoke cigarettes if I have coronavirus?

Deputy Minister of Health Oleg Salagay noted that smokers are definitely at risk, as they are more likely to suffer from chronic diseases such as pneumonia and chronic bronchitis.

And the director of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that during a pandemic, it is especially important to lead a healthy lifestyle and completely abandon cigarettes.

Based on all this, we can conclude that in case of infection, it is necessary to immediately stop smoking cigarettes, including electronic ones. Doctors say that inhaling everything that is harmful to the lungs causes an inflammatory process, and in case of infection with a coronavirus infection, continuing to smoke exposes your body to many times the risk of complications and death.⁵.

Can I smoke hookah if I have coronavirus?

Pulmonologist Alexander Palman notes that hookah smoking is an additional risk factor for contracting COVID-19.

On March 24, an order was issued for all regions of the Russian Federation to ban smoking hookahs in all cafes and restaurants.

In addition to the fact of smoking, the risk of infection is increased by the fact that people often use the same plastic mouthpiece when smoking hookah.

Does smoking kill coronavirus?

As a result, we can conclude that smoking definitely does not kill the coronavirus, but, on the contrary, makes the human lungs more vulnerable. And since the most common complication of coronavirus is pneumonia, the most effective way to protect yourself from coronavirus is to stop smoking anything.⁶.

How is the coronavirus in smokers?

Those who have little experience and have not developed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are one thing. In them, in principle, the coronavirus infection will proceed in the same way in other people without COPD who do not smoke. Yes, there have been publications by some scientists that smoking patients have slightly less expression of ACE receptors, which help in the penetration of the virus into the lungs. Among those who turned to me for help in prescribing therapy for blood thinning with coronavirus, there are both smokers and non-smokers, said an allergist-immunologist of the highest category, Ph.D. Ksenia Bocharova.

Is there a risk of a more severe course of coronavirus infection in a smoker?

If a smoker with COPD is a disease that damages the human respiratory system, then yes, with any damage to the lungs, there is a risk of severe coronavirus. They already have problems, so there will be a lower saturation, since such patients have impaired gas exchange compared to those who do not have COPD, added the allergist-immunologist of the highest category, Ph.D. Ksenia Bocharova.

Is it true that smokers don’t get coronavirus?

It is not true, in my practice there are smokers among patients with coronavirus. Neither are treated on an outpatient basis, and there are also patients in the intensive care unit on a ventilator. Therefore, this is a myth.