The study showed which people contract COVID-19 more severely and die from it more often.

Smoking affects lung function, creating a favorable context for the progression of many respiratory diseases, including coronavirus infection. Smoking is known to damage the immune system and is associated with worsening pneumonia and COVID-19.

Recent studies have found that there is a direct link between smoking and the severity of COVID-19 infection, and smokers are more likely to have a progressive and fatal COVID-19 infection compared to non-smokers.

COVID-19 infection is more common in people with comorbid conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease.

It is not yet clear how the severity and outcome of COVID-19 is related to the use of other tobacco products (cigars, glowing tobacco, pipes) and e-cigarettes. These products are believed to complicate the course of COVID-19.

Smoking worsens the course of COVID-19

Just released in 2021. A World Health Organization (WHO) report on the global tobacco epidemic highlights that smoking increases the body’s vulnerability to COVID-19 viral infection.

It is true that there are opposing points of view. For example, it has been hypothesized that nicotine may act “against COVID-19” because it will have some of these anti-inflammatory effects, possibly inhibiting a “cytokine storm.” Current studies are expected to evaluate the possible specific effects of nicotine on the course of COVID-19, but the results are not yet clear.

2020 In early 2006, the WHO Regional Office for Europe launched a campaign to regularly inform the public about the health risks associated with tobacco use during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the beginning of the pandemic, very little was known about the impact of smoking on the course of COVID-19 infection. There was even a lot of confusion and misinformation on the subject.

For example, it was initially argued that non-smokers have more COVID-19 infection and are more likely to be hospitalized compared to smokers. At the same time, it has been suggested that nicotine “acts prophylactically” against COVID-19.

It later emerged that the results of these studies were methodologically incorrect and that the organizers and implementers of some studies had a conflict of interest with the tobacco industry.

There were also objective reasons that contributed to the formulation of erroneous conclusions. For example, in extreme conditions, when patients have to save lives, information on smoking history may be unreliable and not a priority.

Some young men or women are deliberately silent about smoking, especially when talking to a doctor because they find the habit socially unacceptable or reprehensible to them.

Most studies on the association of COVID-19 with smoking have interviewed healthcare workers or people with chronic illnesses. The prevalence of smoking in this group of people often differs from that of the general population.

COVID-19 Tests More Frequently Performed on Smokers

A more detailed analysis of the results obtained showed that smokers infected with COVID-19 were more likely to have respiratory symptoms, such as cough, and therefore were more likely to be screened for a possible coronavirus infection. Thus, COVID-19 tests are carried out proportionally more in smokers than in non-smokers. Therefore, it is concluded that smokers have a lower risk of contracting COVID-19. But is that really the case?

Only a large-scale prospective cohort study covering a representative population of the general population over a period of time could answer this question.

As of now, there is no clear answer as to whether there is a link between smoking and the likelihood of COVID-19 infection. Some publications supporting the assumption that smoking reduces the risk of COVID-19 infection have been observed to be linked to the tobacco industry in one way or another.

One such publication was even removed from the prestigious European Respiratory Journal, revealing that its authors had concealed a conflict of interest with tobacco manufacturers.

The WHO report mentioned above reveals that since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, most countries have tried to stop the spread of the infection by various means, such as curfew, quarantine, home isolation, etc.

In some countries, such as the Republic of South Africa, the importation of products harmful to health, such as tobacco products, has also been restricted.

Restrictions on the sale of tobacco products have led some smokers to quit or at least try, while others have reduced the number of cigarettes smoked per day.

Spain has also banned the marketing of tobacco products in certain places, including open spaces. Fifteen countries in the Middle East have banned pipe smoking indoors, and in many parts of India smoking or chewing tobacco has been banned.

Selfish goals over health

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how vulnerable humanity is. In Greece, for example, after announcing that smoking could aggravate the course of the COVID-19 infection and worsen the outcome, a well-known tobacco manufacturer bought a batch of artificial lung ventilators for hospitals.

The tobacco industry is trying to intervene in scientific discussions and research processes, for example by participating in the development of a tobacco plant vaccine, in order to become “part of the decision makers”.

Tobacco manufacturers in many countries are financially supporting stay-at-home initiatives, while encouraging the use of smoking tobacco products and electronic nicotine products in the home.

On social internet platforms, these products promote them as “ideal luminaries of solitude” when working from home.

Post “health benefits”: For example, the US Bidi Vapor Instagram claims that using a daily Bidi Stick helps you avoid a visit to a pulmonologist, or at least get smart.

Tobacco makers are also making creative use of the pandemic turmoil to postpone a ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes in Europe.