Smokers may have a 30-50% increased risk of developing severe COVID compared to non-smokers. This is the main conclusion drawn from a review of scientific articles published in the European Respiratory Review magazine with the collaboration of the head of the Tobacco Control research group of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) and, head of the Tobacco Control Unit of the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), Esteve Fernández.
Given the association between tobacco and the risk of developing severe COVID, the World Health Organization decided to demonstrate it by analyzing the studies published to date with scientific evidence. It is for this reason that thanks to the collaboration of the Mario Negri Institute (Milan, Italy), the Center for Prevezione and the Oncology Network (Florence, Italy), the Catalan Institute of Oncology, IDIBELL and the TobaccoFree Research Institute Ireland (Dublin, Ireland) a comprehensive systematic review of published articles has been performed.
How has this review been carried out?
In this review, 320 publications that investigated the relationship between smokers and the progression of COVID were identified. At this point, they used a meta-analytic approach to quantify the effect of smoking and hospitalization, the severity of the disease, and, finally, mortality from COVID-19.
“Our results indicate that among patients with COVID-19, smokers are at increased risk of experiencing a more severe form of the disease, sometimes leading to death, compared to non-smokers,” explains the epidemiologist at the Institute in Milan Mario Negri and coordinator of the study. Silvano Gallus adds “in general, smokers have a risk of between 30 and 50% more possibilities of having an unfavorable outcome in the evolution of the disease.”
For the head of the Tobacco Control Unit of the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) and researcher at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), and collaborator of the study, Esteve Fernández, it is important to remember that “at the beginning of the pandemic the tobacco and nicotine were pointed as possible protective factors against COVID and we have shown that, on the contrary, tobacco and COVID are more than dangerous friendships“, adding “the novelty of these results is that we have one more reason to not smoke: the prevention of serious complications of COVID-19, including death from this disease”.
The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) is a biomedical research center created in 2004. It is participated by the Bellvitge University Hospital and the Viladecans Hospital of the Catalan Institute of Health, the Catalan Institute of Oncology, the University of Barcelona and the City Council of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.
IDIBELL is a member of the Campus of International Excellence of the University of Barcelona HUBc and is part of the CERCA institution of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 2009 it became one of the first five Spanish research centers accredited as a health research institute by the Carlos III Health Institute. In addition, it is part of the “HR Excellence in Research” program of the European Union and is a member of EATRIS and REGIC. Since 2018, IDIBELL has been an Accredited Center of the AECC Scientific Foundation (FCAECC).