Vol. 20 No. 2 (2021)
Original Articles

Smoking and COVID 19: Analysing this controversy in a Brazilian COVID-19 Reference Centre

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  • Thiago P. Bartholo,
  • Luis C. Pôrto,
  • Claudia H. Costa,
  • Agnaldo José Lopes,
  • Nadja P. Graça,
  • Fernanda O. Chibante,
  • Elizabeth J. C. Bessa,
  • Alessandra S. Nunes,
  • Rogério L. Rufino
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12957/bjhbs.2021.63961

Published 2022-01-04

Keywords

  • COVID-19,
  • SARS-CoV-2,
  • Smoking,
  • Risk factor

How to Cite

1.
P. Bartholo T, C. Pôrto L, H. Costa C, José Lopes A, P. Graça N, O. Chibante F, J. C. Bessa E, S. Nunes A, L. Rufino R. Smoking and COVID 19: Analysing this controversy in a Brazilian COVID-19 Reference Centre. BJHBS [Internet]. 2022 Jan. 4 [cited 2024 Dec. 3];20(2):105-8. Available from: https://bjhbs.hupe.uerj.br/bjhbs/article/view/32

Copyright (c) 2021 Brazilian Journal of Health and Biomedical Sciences

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Abstract

Introduction: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is ex-tremely important to determine the risk factors that define patients who are more susceptible to the severe form of the disease; however, the observation of supposedly pro-tective factors is also of great relevance. Smoking has been the subject of controversy as to whether it is a protective factor or a risk factor for COVID-19. Objective: To assess how smokers behave within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients and methods: The participants in this study were a spontaneously recruited sample from the Rio de Janeiro State University COVID-19 Reference Centre, between March and May 2020. All patients underwent clinical, laboratory, and nasal swabs for the Sars-Cov-2 PCR investigation. Whenever it was the necessary case, patients were referred to hospitalization. Results: A total of 4,636 patients with suggestive symptoms of COVID were evalu-ated. There was 230 (4.9%) smokers in this group; there is a 10.3% smoking prevalence in the state of Rio de Janeiro as described in 2018. A number of 2,246 patients (48.6% of the total sample) were diagnosed with COVID-19, only 82 of these (3.7% of the total positive COVID) were smokers. Only 1 (0.01%) of the smokers with COVID-19 needed hospitalization. As far as the assessed symptoms, smokers showed fewer symptoms during the disease. Conclusion: The study suggests that smokers have fewer symptoms (mild or asymptomatic symptoms) and that there is a need to expand specific testing for that group.

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