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Review
. 2020 Jul 3:18:58.
doi: 10.18332/tid/124788. eCollection 2020.

Smoking, SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19: A review of reviews considering implications for public health policy and practice

Emily J Grundy  1 , Taiba Suddek  2 , Filippos T Filippidis  3 , Azeem Majeed  3 , Sophie Coronini-Cronberg  1   3
Affiliations
Review

Smoking, SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19: A review of reviews considering implications for public health policy and practice

Emily J Grundy et al. Tob Induc Dis. .

Abstract

Introduction: There has been significant speculation regarding the association between the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pathogen, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and smoking. We provide an overview of the available literature regarding the association between smoking, risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and risk of severe COVID-19 and poor clinical outcomes, with the aim of informing public health policy and practice, particularly in England.

Methods: Publications were identified utilising a systematic search approach on PUBMED and Google Scholar. Publications presenting a systematic review or meta-analysis considering the association between smoking and SARS-COV-2 infection or COVID-19 outcomes were included.

Results: Eight studies were identified. One considered the relationship between smoking and the probability of SARS-CoV-2 infection, three considered the association between COVID-19 hospitalisation and smoking history, and six reviewed the association between smoking history and development of severe COVID-19. One study specifically investigated the risk of mortality. The studies considering risk of severe disease indicate that there is a significant association between COVID-19 and current or ever smoking.

Conclusions: This is a rapidly evolving topic. Current analysis remains limited due to the quality of primary data, although, early results indicate an association between smoking and COVID-19 severity. We highly recommend public health messaging to continue focusing on smoking cessation efforts.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus; public health; smoking.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have each completed and submitted an ICMJE form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. The authors declare that they have no competing interests, financial or otherwise, related to the current work. A. Majeed and S. Coronini-Cronberg report grants from the National Institute for Health Research, during the conduct of the study.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram visualising the database searches, number of publications identified, screened, and final full-texts included in this review
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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