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Smoking Linked To Higher Risk Of Virus: WHO
According to WHO smoking is linked to a higher risk of severe illness and death from the coronavirus in hospitalised patients, although it was unable to specify exactly how much greater those risks might be.
In a scientific brief published this week, the U.N. health agency reviewed 34 published studies on the association between smoking and COVID-19, including the probability of infection, hospitalisation, severity of disease and death.
WHO noted that smokers represent up to 18% of hospitalised coronavirus patients and that there appeared to be a significant link between whether or not patients smoked and the severity of disease they suffered, the type of hospital interventions required, and patients’ risk of dying.
WHO says “the available evidence suggests that smoking is associated with increased severity of disease and death in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. It recommends that smokers quit.