Smokers and risk of hospital death by COVID calculated with SAVANA’s natural language processing in the Castilla-La Mancha area

Abstract

IntroductionDuring the COVID pandemic, it was speculated that patients with the virus who were smoking-related might have a lower likelihood of disease exacerbation or death. To assess whether there is an association between smoking and risk of in-hospital mortality, SAVANA's big data and Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology is used. MethodA retrospective, observational, non-interventional cohort study was conducted based on real-life data extracted from medical records throughout Castilla La Mancha using Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence techniques developed by SAVANA. The study covered the entire population of this region with Electronic Medical Records in SESCAM presenting with a diagnosis of COVID from March 1, 2020 to February 28, 2021. ResultsSmokers had a significantly higher percentage of cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes), COPD, asthma, IDP, IC, CVD, PTE, cancer in general and lung cancer in particular, bronchiectasis, heart failure and a history of pneumonia (p < 0.0001).Former smokers, current smokers and non-smokers have a significant age difference. As for in-hospital deaths, they were more frequent in the case of ex-smokers, followed by smokers and then non-smokers (p < 0.0001). ConclusionThere is an increased risk of dying in hospital in SARS-COV2-infected patients who are active smokers or have smoked in the past.