A third of young adults may be at risk for severe COVID-19, especially if they smoke or vaporize

A third of young people across the country may be at risk of becoming seriously ill with COVID-19, especially if they smoke or vaporize, according to a UCSF study published Monday in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

The study found that smoking was the most common risk factor for serious COVID-19 complications among young, mostly healthy, people.

For young men, smoking or vaping can more than double the potential of being hospitalized, needing intensive care, or even dying from the virus. For young women, who suffer more from other risk factors, smoking or vaping could increase the chance 1½ times.

“I think most young adults don’t think they are at risk,” said lead author Dr. Charles Irwin Jr., director of UCSF’s Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine. “For me, it was shocking to discover that smoking contributed a lot to being at risk. … It’s a message you could do something about. “

The study sounds the alarm as cases of coronavirus among young people appear to be driving the rise of the nation. Youth ages 18-29 are filling more hospital beds than at the start of the pandemic, with a 299% increase in hospitalizations from mid-April to late June, according to a UCSF analysis of the Centers’ data. for Disease Control and Prevention. At UCSF, 14% of people in the same age range who tested positive through the health system needed hospital care.

To find the risks for this growing group, the study analyzed medical data from 8,405 men and women ages 18 to 25 through the National Survey of Health Interviews, a representative dataset based on annual surveys from 2016 to 2018.

The authors searched for risk factors for COVID-19, defined by the CDC as heart conditions, diabetes, asthma, immune conditions, liver conditions, obesity, and smoking. The study authors added e-cigarettes to tobacco and cigars due to research showing that they cause similar lung damage.

Of the youth surveyed, 20% had smoked in the past 30 days.

Among the entire group, the risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19 was 32%. That risk was cut in half, to 16%, when smokers were removed from the equation, revealing how smoking only increased the likelihood that young people would be hospitalized or die from the virus.

“It really is the vulnerable point for the young adult group right now,” said study author Sally Adams, a specialist in UCSF’s Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine.

The authors also analyzed gender, race, income, and health insurance compared to risk factors. Men were more likely to smoke and had a higher risk of getting sick with COVID-19, although nonsmoking women had higher rates of asthma, immune conditions, and obesity that made them more vulnerable to the virus. Among the races, whites had a higher risk of becoming seriously ill, in line with the highest rates of smoking. Low-income and uninsured people were more likely to smoke, increasing their health risks.

The study highlighted the risks to youth as cases among the age group increase nationally and locally. In California, new cases of coronavirus among people under the age of 35 increased 73% in the last two weeks of June compared to the first two weeks of the month, while infections among people over 50 increased by 42% , an analysis by the California Department of Public Health Data revealed.

“Young people seem to be driving this epidemic surge,” said George Lemp, an infectious disease epidemiologist and retired director of the California HIV / AIDS research program at the University of California, who cut the numbers. “This is concerning since they are also more frequently asymptomatic and are able to spread the virus silently while it is not detected.”