Smoking and COVID-19 again

Came across a small review of some previous studies and a new study on the impacts of covid on current, past and never smokers, it seems the data still points towards current smokers having the least risk of serious harm or hospitalization from covid followed by never smokers and then past smokers.

When adjusting for age, weight, health and the rest, the numbers show a stronger tendency towards this.

There's a few theories out there as to mechanism behind why, but still no sure answers as to why throughout the world there haa been a reported low prevalence of current smokers among people that tested positive for SARS-COV2 and/or were hospitalized due to COVID-19.

velvetgloveironfist.blogspot.com...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...

The researchers looked at 12,169 people in Texas who have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 since the pandemic began, of whom 10,216 had previously provided information on their smoking status. Only 3.9 per cent were current smokers. 87 per cent had never smoked. 

1,150 (11.2%) of the people who tested positive were hospitalized due to COVID-19 within 14 days. Ex-smokers were more likely to be hospitalised, but current smokers were less likely.

Univariable analysis showed that former smokers had significantly higher odds of hospitalization from COVID-19 compared to never smokers (Odds Ratio [OR] 2.31; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.94-2.74). In contrast, current smokers were less likely to be hospitalized from COVID-19 than never smokers (OR 0.68; 95% CI 0.60-0.99).

They then made adjustments for body weight and other factors, but this only made the effect bigger...

During further analysis (adding BMI, previous inpatient hospitalizations and number of comorbidities), there was a trend towards increase in odds of hospitalization for former smokers compared to never smokers, but the difference did not reach statistical significance (OR 1.05; 95% CI 0.86-1.29). Current smokers’ odds of hospitalization due to COVID-19 remained lower than that of never smokers (OR 0.55; 95% CI 0.37-0.83).

The smokers were also around half as likely to die from COVID-19 (the researchers do not give a precise relative risk, but 0.8% of the smokers died compared with 1.6% of the never-smokers and 5.1% of the ex-smokers). All the other findings were as you might expect from other studies. For example, obese people were 67% more likely to be hospitalised and women were 43% less likely.

Several mechanisms are proposed for this and you can check their references by looking at the study (which is not paywalled).

Several mechanisms have been proposed to describe the association between tobacco use and severe COVID-19. Tobacco smoke impairs mucociliary clearance, weakens innate and adaptive immune responses and increases the risk of both viral and bacterial pulmonary infections. Tobacco use has been shown to increase levels of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the unique receptor used by SARS-COV2 to enter host cells.

Alternatively, a potentially protective role of tobacco use in COVID-19 infection has been theorized. Nicotine, a highly addictive, psychoactive alkaloid contained in tobacco products, has shown immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory effects. Tobacco use has also been linked to increased nitric oxide production in the lungs, resulting in diminished viral replication and impaired viral entry into host cells. Nicotine has also demonstrated a protective effect for ARDS animal models, and is thought to potentially inhibit Interleukin-6, a key player in the cytokine release syndrome induced by SARS-COV2 infection. And while some studies report upregulation of ACE2 receptors for SARS-COV2 cell entry in tobacco users, others challenge this claim and report an interaction between nicotine and the renin-angiotensin system, resulting in reduced ACE2 levels. Moreover, several series throughout the world have reported a low prevalence of current smokers among people that tested positive for SARS-COV2 and/or were hospitalized due to COVID-19.

ETA: Because Phage has a point...This thread is for informational purposes only don't do something dumb like take up smoking as a covid preventative.

Very interesting indeed! My wife and I were wondering about smokers versus non. And with the amount of tar buildup in our lungs if the virus just gets stuck to it and dies.

Thank You for the information !!!

a reply to: dug88

Interesting. But retrospective studies (uncontrolled) can be problematic when it comes to arriving at conclusions.

Finally, our retrospective analysis may only assume an association between smoking status (former and/or current) and risk of severe COVID 19, and not a cause and effect relation.

I think getting vaccinated is probably a better idea than starting to smoke.

A good cig beats a lousy vaccine any day.

The most profound thing my drill sergeant ever said, imo ahem, was, "Smoke 'em if you got 'em."

Smokers see more UFOs too so there's that.

a reply to: dug88


Wow thank god, I was actually thinking about cutting back from 2 cartons a week.

a reply to: Phage

Well, the point wasn't to imply people should start smoking or something to try and prevent covid, just presenting the information as i found it. I seen some earlier studies on it a while back last year or something and it seemed surprising, so it was interesting to see a followup showing the data still leans in that direction with a bit more explanation on possible mechanisms.

originally posted by: The GUT

The most profound thing my drill sergeant ever said, imo ahem, was, "Smoke 'em if you got 'em."

Oh. Hmm. I thought he meant, "if you got 'em in your sights."

My bad.

Can confirm, upped my smoking to 2 packs a day and still covid free

haha, nevermind

a reply to: wheresthebody

Not just that gross tobacco smoke it seems.

You know that quote says THC is bad, right?

Nicotine is also used as an agricultural pesticide, could there be some angle there? Is the nicotine lessening the severity? Is there a coating in the lungs from smoking that doesn't allow covid to be so aggressive?🤷🏾‍♂️

If you're currently smoking, your body is in a constant, amplified damage and repair cycle. Inflammations galore. You'd think that would spell disaster when coupled with covid-19...🤔🤔

Hell, this study could be nothing more than tobacco industry funded research/propaganda.🤨

They were looking into this way back in March last here in the UK.
It's the nicotine in cigarettes that kills of respiratory viruses apparently. Would go a long way to explain why smokers never seem to get as much of a sniffle of a cold. But when they stop, they get hit hard. So I decided if there was such a thing as nicotine Essential Oil. Right enough I found a couple of suppliers. So I asked for the chemical breakdown (GC/MS report) and right enough there were antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties in there. It was a little on the expensive side, but I decided I already had oils that had those chemical components, so I stuck with those.

At the end of last summer I was up in a city called Leicester teaching. Leicester is a University town and has 3 very large hospitals. My student was doing practical training so she'd asked one of her friends to come along as a 'body' as we call them.
Turns out this lady was a high ranking nurse, worked on the Covid and ICU wards. She was off work due to long covid.
So she told me every single patient that had come through her, not one of them were smokers. She hadn't seen a single serious case of covid where the patient was also a smoker. They had been wondering themselves why they had not seen any smokers.

Rainbows
Jane

originally posted by: angelchemuel

So she told me every single patient that had come through her, not one of them were smokers. She hadn't seen a single serious case of covid where the patient was also a smoker. They had been wondering themselves why they had not seen any smokers.

That's good because it is a real witch to sneak off the ward (and back) for an illicit cig with all of these covid-security measures in place. Even as a visitor.

a reply to: dug88

I can't remember the last time I wasn't smoking.

Covid free since 2019! 👀🚬

Didn't one of the treatments for Ebola have tobacco in it?

originally posted by: GravitySucks
Didn't one of the treatments for Ebola have tobacco in it?

Apparently so!

Ebola Tobacco Time

Tobacco kills but it makes sure it kills everything else before you.

a reply to: GravitySucks

I also found a little article that stated during the Spanish flu outbreak people were actually starting to smoke as a way to stop getting it. Moderate smoking actually has beneficial effects, 75% less likely to get Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. It looks like this worldwide effort to ban smoking is another piece of social engineering, started by Nixon as another string to the war on drugs. www.sott.net... g-Tobacco This article is factual and from unbiased sources.

a reply to: dug88

I think the nitric oxide part of the op may be a mechanism involved. Your post reminds me of reading earlier on about the lower numbers of smokers catching the virus in France or China.

More recently, this brings to mind a local company developing a nitric oxide nasal spray (SaNOtize NONS). It came up in the coronavirus megathread, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the clinical trials work out.

As a smoker, I feel grateful to enjoy relatively good health. Iirc, nitric oxide is also involved in exercise. Hopefully, research in this area helps provide more options for better outcomes.

a reply to: dug88

Not only does smoking make me look cool, it's saved me from the Chinese Koff-Koff?

originally posted by: anonentity
a reply to: GravitySucks

I also found a little article that stated during the Spanish flu outbreak people were actually starting to smoke as a way to stop getting it. Moderate smoking actually has beneficial effects, 75% less likely to get Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. It looks like this worldwide effort to ban smoking is another piece of social engineering, started by Nixon as another string to the war on drugs. www.sott.net... g-Tobacco This article is factual and from unbiased sources.