A leading expert has warned that smokers are likely at increased risk\n of more severe COVID-19, compared to non-smokers, suggesting that now \nwould be a particularly good time to try and quit or cut down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s not very much data at this point on COVID-19 in smokers, but\n we do know from reports from China, smokers seem to be over-represented\n in groups of people who have severe or critical COVID-19,\u201d said J. \nTaylor Hays, M.D. Director of the Nicotine Dependence center at Mayo \nClinic in Rochester, Minnesota and Professor of Medicine, Mayo Clinic \nCollege of Medicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Increasing evidence is suggesting that smokers are at higher risk of \nsevere COVID-19 than those who don\u2019t smoke. One study published in the New England Journal of Medicine<\/em> in\n February looked at 1,099 patients in China with COVID-19, showing that \nof 173 patients who had severe symptoms, 16.9% of them were current \nsmokers and 5.2% had previously smoked. Among the patients with \nless-severe symptoms, 11.8% were current smokers and 1.3% former \nsmokers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More worryingly, the study showed that in a group of patients that \neither needed mechanical ventilation, admission to an intensive care \nunit, or ultimately died, 25.5% were current smokers, which was more \nthan twice the rate of current smokers in a group of patients that did \nnot have these severe adverse outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese observations about more severe illness in smokers vs people \nwho have never smoked seems to parallel what is seen in respiratory \nviruses such as respiratory syncytial virus and seasonal influenza, \nwhere smokers tend to do worse than non-smokers,\u201d said Hays, also \nmentioning that no data is currently available on people who vape or use\n e-cigarettes. \u201cWe know that inhalation of combustible tobacco of any \nsort seems to be associated with more severe disease from respiratory \nviruses,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Studying other coronavirus outbreaks provides further suggestions \nthat smokers may fare worse with these types of viral infections than \nnon-smokers. In a study of a small number of patients with Middle-East \nRespiratory Syndrome (MERS) in South Korea, patients who smoked were \nless likely to survive than those who did not. There was also some \nevidence that smokers had higher levels of a protein called DPP4, a \nreceptor which allows the MERS coronavirus to enter cells in the lung, \nwhich could make their lung cells more susceptible to attack from the \nvirus. SARS-CoV2, the coronavirus responsible for the current outbreak, \nuses a different receptor to gain access to lung cells called ACE2. \nHowever, the news here isn\u2019t any better for smokers either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe ACE2 receptor is up-regulated in the respiratory cells of \nsmokers. This might be a mechanism by which it is more likely to cause \nsevere illness,\u201d said Hays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are also other, well-proven reasons for smokers to be concerned about their risk of severe or fatal COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere is a long history of smokers having more severe respiratory \nillness in general and this is for a few well-established reasons. They \nclear mucus less efficiently, the cilia which get infectious particles \nand secretions out of the lungs, work less efficiently. Smoking also \ncauses inflammation in the airways, which is made worse with respiratory\n illnesses,\u201d said Hays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So if you are reading this and you smoke or know someone who does, is it too late now to stop or cut down?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople who quit for even a short time see an improvement in lung \nhealth quite quickly. For most smokers who don\u2019t already have serious \nlung injury, they will see immediate improvements in their health, and \nless opportunity for severe diseases including COVID-19,\u201d said Hays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, the CDC reported that almost 7 out of 10 adult smokers \nwanted to try and quit, with over half of all of them trying to quit at \nleast once in that year, but the large majority not succeeding. Is it \nlikely that people will try to quit, and succeed, especially at such a \nstressful time for many?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI understand people turn to things because it\u2019s a coping mechanism, \nespecially at stressful times. I would say to them \u2013 try and flex other \ncoping muscles, there is a real opportunity to break routines \u2013 even a \nshort period of abstinence from smoking improves lung function,\u201d said \nHays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople could look at this as an opportunity \u2013 a time of crisis is a \ntime of opportunity. If you\u2019ve been looking for an opportunity to quit, \nthis is it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A leading expert has warned that smokers are likely at increased risk of more severe COVID-19, compared to non-smokers, suggesting that now would be a particularly good time to try and quit or cut down. \u201cThere\u2019s not very much data at this point on COVID-19 in smokers, but we do know from reports from China, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3192","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-international"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}