Role of tobacco exposure in the course of COVID-19 disease and the impact of the disease on smoking behavior

Abstract

Introduction: Studies evaluating the link between smoking and COVID-19 have controversial results. This study aims to evaluate the smoking status of COVID-19 patients, examine the relationship between smoking status and the course of COVID-19 disease, and determine how their smoking behavior changed after the disease.

Methods: Data was collected from COVID-19 patients who had positive polymerase chain reaction tests for SARS-CoV-2 between 11 March 2020 -15 May 2020 in Rize/Turkey. The data was obtained from the pandemic hospitals and interviews with patients two months after their recovery.

Results: Of the 150 patients 50% were female. The mean age of the participants was 48.17±17.23. Before the COVID diagnosis 62% of the patients were never smokers, 25% were former smokers, and 12.7% were current smokers. After COVID diagnosis 78.9% of current smokers had quitted. Comorbid diseases were present in 40.7% of the patients. The most prevalent symptoms were fever (36%) and cough (31.3%). Most of the patients had been hospitalized at wards (84.7%), 2% had been followed at intensive care units, 1.3% had been intubated, and 7.3% had been followed at home. The proportion of men (73% vs. 46.6%, p<0.02) and intubated individuals (10.5% vs. 0.0%, p:0.015)  were higher in active smokers compared to former and never-smokers. Intubated 2 patients were heavy smokers and had smoking-related comorbid diseases.

Measurements and Main Results: Our sample consists of COVID-19 patients from the first two months of the pandemic in Turkey. The rate of current smokers was 12.7% and their quit rate was 78.9% after recovery. Also current smokers had a higher rate of intubation.