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. 2021 May 6;31(1):22.
doi: 10.1038/s41533-021-00238-8.

Smoking cessation during COVID-19: the top to-do list

Jaber S Alqahtani  1   2 , Abdulelah M Aldhahir  3   4 , Tope Oyelade  5 , Saeed M Alghamdi  6   7 , Ahmad S Almamary  6   8
Affiliations

Smoking cessation during COVID-19: the top to-do list

Jaber S Alqahtani et al. NPJ Prim Care Respir Med. .

Abstract

As evidence continues to emerge, our understanding of the relationship between smoking and COVID-19 prognosis is steadily growing. An early outlook from World Health Organisation (WHO) indicates that smokers are more vulnerable to severe COVID-19 disease and are also more likely to be infected, as frequent motions from hand to mouth and sharing of tobacco products such as waterpipes increased the possibility of being infected. In this commentary, we discuss some of the latest evidence on smoking and COVID-19 and emphasise the need to promote the personal and public advantages of smoking cessation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Burden of smoking in COVID-19 patients and role of smoking cessation.
Smoking is associated with increased risk of severe COVID-19 and mortality that are linked with ACE 2 overexpression and frequent hand to mouth movement. The health cost of COVD-19-associated morbidity can be reduced via the promotion of smoking cessation through apps, public health campaigns, telehealth models and the hospital quality measures.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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