Influence of Cigarettes and Alcohol on the Severity and Death of COVID-19: A Multicenter Retrospective Study in Wuhan, China

• Published in: Frontiers in physiology Vol. 11; p. 588553
• Main Authors: Dai, Mengyuan, Tao, Liyuan, Chen, Zhen, Tian, Zhi, Guo, Xiaofang, Allen-Gipson, Diane S, Tan, Ruirong, Li, Rui, Chai, Li, Ai, Fen, Liu, Miao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 09.12.2020
• Subjects: alcohol; cigarette; COVID-19; death; Physiology; SARS-CoV-2; severity; COVID-19; alcohol; severity; SARS-CoV-2; cigarette; death
• ISSN: 1664-042X; 1664-042X
• DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2020.588553

The recent emergence and rapid global spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is leading to public health crises worldwide. Alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking (CS) are two known risk factors in many diseases including respiratory infections. We performed a multi-center study in the four largest hospitals designated for COVID-19 patients in Wuhan. There are totally 1547 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 enrolled in the study, alcohol consumption and CS history were evaluated among these patients. The epidemiology, laboratory findings and outcomes of patients contracted COVID-19 were further studied. Our findings indicated that COVID-19 patients with a history of CS tend to have more severe outcomes than non-smoking patients. However, alcohol consumption did not reveal significant effects on neither development of severe illness nor death rates in COVID-19 patients. CS is a risk factor for developing severe illness and increasing mortality during the SARS-CoV-2 infection. We believe that our findings will provide a better understanding on the effects of alcohol intake and CS exposure in COVID-19 patients.