Is there any effect of smoking status on severity and mortality of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 pneumonia?

Introduction: The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) virus, which emerged from China and spread all over the world, has affected the world in every aspect and will do so in the foreseeable future. This study was carried out to investigate the possible aggravating effect of smoking on the prognosis of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia presenting with pulmonary involvement.

Materials And Methods: 114 adult patients who received inpatient treatment in our clinic with the diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia between 11 March 2020 and 30 April 2020 were retrospectively included in the study; in particular, they were evaluated in terms of smoking history, severity of disease, need for NIMV and ICU admission, and mortality during their hospitalization.

Result: The mean age of the 114 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 pneumonia was 51.14 ± 14.97 (range 16-81), and 77 (67.5%) were male. Of the patients, 19 (15.9%) were active smokers, 23 were ex-smokers (20.1%), 72 (63.1%) non-smokers. The effect of smoking on the severity of the disease, length of hospitalization, need for non-invasive mechanical ventilation (NIMV) and intensive care unit (ICU) admission and mortality were not statistically significant.

Conclusions: The rate of active smoking in patients hospitalized with COVID- 19 is lower than the population average. In this study, no correlation was observed between smoking status and the severity, prognosis and mortality of the disease. Further studies with larger number of patients and case series are needed to better elucidate the relationship between smoking and COVID-19 and the pathophysiologic mechanisms of the effects of smoking on the natural history of COVID-19 pneumonia.