The Paradox of the Low Prevalence of Current Smokers Among COVID-19 Patients Hospitalized in Nonintensive Care Wards: Results From an Italian Multicenter Case-Control Study.
In: Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, Jg. 23 (2021-08-04), Heft 8, S. 1436-1440
Online
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Zugriff:
Introduction: COVID-19, a respiratory illness due to SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, was first described in December 2019 in Wuhan, rapidly evolving into a pandemic. Smoking increases the risk of respiratory infections; thus, cessation represents a huge opportunity for public health. However, there is scarce evidence about if and how smoking affects the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Methods: We performed an observational case-control study, assessing the single-day point prevalence of smoking among 218 COVID-19 adult patients hospitalized in seven Italian nonintensive care wards and in a control group of 243 patients admitted for other conditions to seven COVID-19-free general wards. We compared proportions for categorical variables by using the χ 2 test and performed univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses to identify the variables associated with the risk of hospitalization for COVID-19.
Results: The percentages of current smokers (4.1% vs 16%, p = .00003) and never smokers (71.6% vs 56.8%, p = .0014) were significantly different between COVID-19 and non-COVID 19 patients. COVID-19 patients had lower mean age (69.5 vs 74.2 years, p = .00085) and were more frequently males (59.2% vs 44%, p = .0011). In the logistic regression analysis, current smokers were significantly less likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 compared with nonsmokers (odds ratio = 0.23; 95% confidence interval, 0.11-0.48, p < .001), even after adjusting for age and gender (odds ratio = 0.14; 95% confidence interval, 0.06-0.31, p < .001).
Conclusions: We reported an unexpectedly low prevalence of current smokers among COVID-19 patients hospitalized in nonintensive care wards. The meaning of these preliminary findings, which are in line with those currently emerging in literature, is unclear; they need to be confirmed by larger studies.
Implications: An unexpectedly low prevalence of current smokers among patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in some Italian nonintensive care wards is reported. This finding could be a stimulus for the generation of novel hypotheses on individual predisposition and possible strategies for reducing the risk of infection from SARS-CoV-2 and needs to be confirmed by further larger studies designed with adequate methodology.
(© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved.For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)
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The Paradox of the Low Prevalence of Current Smokers Among COVID-19 Patients Hospitalized in Nonintensive Care Wards: Results From an Italian Multicenter Case-Control Study.
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Meini, S ; Fortini, A ; Andreini, R ; Sechi, LA ; Tascini, C |
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Zeitschrift: | Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, Jg. 23 (2021-08-04), Heft 8, S. 1436-1440 |
Veröffentlichung: | <2009->: Oxford : Oxford University Press ; <i>Original Publication</i>: Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK : Carfax Pub. and Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, c1999-, 2021 |
Medientyp: | academicJournal |
ISSN: | 1469-994X (electronic) |
DOI: | 10.1093/ntr/ntaa188 |
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