Smoking does increase the risk of developing COVID-19 symptoms
According to a new study, smoking doubles the risk of developing a severe case of coronavirus and therefore requiring hospitalization to treat symptoms.
Research, based on data collected from millions of Britons through King’s College London’s ZOE app, found that people who smoke are at higher risk of serious disease than non-smokers.
Among the conclusive evidence of this research, it was found that smokers are 14% more likely to have a fever, persistent cough, and difficulty breathing, three of the main symptoms of the coronavirus.
In addition to this, the analysis determined that people who have the habit of smoking also have a 50% higher risk of developing more than ten symptoms of this disease at the same time, which include cough, fever, loss of smell, loss of appetite, diarrhea, fatigue, confusion or muscle pain, than people who do not smoke.
These findings, which were published in the journal BMJ Thorax, contradict the results of previous studies, which indicate that smokers are less likely to contract the coronavirus or become seriously ill, which puts people who have a habit of smoking constantly on alert, in addition to confirming the opinion of academics who through several years of research have shown that tobacco smoking increases the risk of fatal diseases.
Regarding the results of this new study, Mario Falchi, Principal Investigator and Senior Lecturer at King’s College London noted that “ Some reports have suggested a protective effect of smoking on the risk of COVID-19. However, studies in this area can easily be affected by sampling, participation, and response biases. Our results clearly show that smokers are at higher risk for a broader range of COVID-19 symptoms than non-smokers. ‘’
A claim that has been confirmed as the pandemic has progressed, where various investigations show that smokers who contract coronavirus are more likely to have the disease progress rapidly, thus leading to almost certain death.
The veracity of the latest study from King’s College London is given because it provides real information about patients who have coronavirus and analyzed both self-reported and laboratory-confirmed cases. This is how the application data shows that, of the 2.4 million participants who downloaded ZOE between March 24 and April 23 of last year, 220,135 were smokers, that is, about 11% of them.
For the study, participants submitted various data about themselves, as well as any symptoms they presented and any laboratory results that had tested positive, and although the self-reported data are considered less reliable, all were considered given that at the beginning of the pandemic, the possibility of accessing a diagnostic test available only in hospitals was very low.
The dissemination of the results of this research seeks to get the smoking population away from this bad habit that, in addition to other diseases such as lung cancer, stroke, and diabetes, also increases the risk of dying from covid-19.
In relation to this, Claire Steves, Principal Investigator, Consultant Physician and Reader at King’s College London, noted that “As rates of coronavirus continue to rise, it is important to do everything possible to reduce its effects and find ways to reduce hospital admissions. hospital ”, so the results of this analysis showing that smoking increases the probability that a person attends hospitals indicate that “ quitting smoking is one of the things we can do to reduce the health consequences of this disease ”.
These studies, which were motivated by research that have determined that smokers may have a reduced risk against covid-19 and that experts described as something “strange”, even more so when at the beginning of the pandemic, academics warned that due to Since the coronavirus mainly affects the respiratory system, smokers would be at greater risk given the deadly relationship between smoking and various chronic health conditions that affect this same system, are being confirmed by real-world data.
Thus, despite the fact that academics from University College London examined 28 articles in which they found that the proportion of smokers among hospital patients was “lower than expected”, scientists continue to insist on proving the opposite through different tests, including a recent study by UCLA academics using laboratory-grown stem cells that found that smoking causes three times as many coronavirus-infected cells.
Regarding this, UCLA’s Dr. Brigitte Gomperts pointed out in November that “ if you think of the airways as the high walls that protect a castle, smoking cigarettes is like creating holes in these walls, “ so smoking “ it reduces natural defenses and that allows the virus to establish itself ”in the body.
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