Systematic review of the prevalence of current smoking among hospitalized COVID-19 patients in China: could nicotine be a therapeutic option?
Intern Emerg Med
; 15(5): 845-852, 2020 08.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-209728
ABSTRACT
The effects of smoking on Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) are currently unknown. The purpose of this study was to systematically examine the prevalence of current smoking among hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in China, considering the high-population smoking prevalence in China (26.6%). A systematic review of the literature (PubMed) was performed on April 1. Thirteen studies examining the clinical characteristics of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in China and presenting data on the smoking status were found. The pooled prevalence of current smoking from all studies was calculated by random-effect meta-analysis. To address the possibility that some smokers had quit shortly before hospitalization and were classified as former smokers on admission to the hospital, we performed a secondary analysis in which all former smokers were classified as current smokers. A total of 5960 patients were included in the studies identified. The current smoking prevalence ranged from 1.4% (95% CI 0.0-3.4%) to 12.6% (95% CI 10.6-14.6%). An unusually low prevalence of current smoking was observed from the pooled analysis (6.5%, 95% CI 4.9-8.2%) as compared to population smoking prevalence in China. The secondary analysis, classifying former smokers as current smokers, found a pooled estimate of 7.3% (95% CI 5.7-8.9%). In conclusion, an unexpectedly low prevalence of current smoking was observed among patients with COVID-19 in China, which was approximately 1/4th the population smoking prevalence. Although the generalized advice to quit smoking as a measure to reduce health risk remains valid, the findings, together with the well-established immunomodulatory effects of nicotine, suggest that pharmaceutical nicotine should be considered as a potential treatment option in COVID-19.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Smoking
/
Coronavirus Infections
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
/
Reviews
/
Systematic review/Meta Analysis
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Intern Emerg Med
Journal subject:
Emergency Medicine
/
Internal Medicine
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S11739-020-02355-7
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