The Association of Smoking and SARS-CoV-2 Infection

SARS-CoV-2 is a member of the coronavirus family that has caused infections in humans. Iran, as one of the countries in West Asia, is facing a high prevalence of this virus. In this study, we aimed to investigate the association between smoking and COVID-19 outcomes during the pandemic and sociodemographic characteristics.
This cross‐sectional survey was done to assess the frequency of tobacco smoking in COVID-19 patients hospitalized at Masih Daneshvari Hospital, Tehran, Iran. All patients’ basic and clinical characteristics, smoking status, and outcomes (ICU admission) were recorded.
A total of 254 participants, of whom 206 (81.10%) provided complete data on variables included in the present analyses. In the present study, 137 (66.5%) of all patients were men and 69 (33.5%) were women. Also, 63 (30.4%) of the study population had a family member with a current disease or history of COVID-19. Fourteen patients (6.79%) were ex-smokers and 34 (16.50%) were current smokers. We found significant relationships between Ex-smoking and ICU admission in COVID-19 patients.
Ex-smoker inpatients with COVID-19 require special attention since they are a vulnerable population with a much higher morbidity rate.