Smoking-related complications among COVID-19 cases: a population-based survey in Qatar

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective To establish the impact of smoking on the severity of COVID-19 infection among adults 18 years and above in Qatar during 2020–2021. Design Analytical cross-sectional study from May 2020 to 2021. Setting Health Information System (HIS) of Communicable disease and control center of Hamad Medical Corporation in Qatar. Participant We randomly selected participants from all COVID-19 confirmed cases (n = 1036). Participants below 18 years old, people with HIV, and those who could not communicate in English and Arabic were excluded. The remaining patients (n = 576) were then allocated into smoking and nonsmoking groups. Result The prevalence of tobacco smoking was (20.48%) among patients with COVID-19 infection. Age, nationality, employment, and low-to-moderate income were statistically significantly associated with smoking. In addition, the proportion of smokers who required hospitalization was higher compared to nonsmokers (23.7% vs. 17.9%) and were younger (mean age 44.18 years ±18.431) than nonsmokers (mean age 51.6 years ±18.382). The logistic regression revealed that smokers had significantly higher odds of Vitamin D deficiency than nonsmokers [OR: 2.358; CI: 1.017–5.513]. Conclusion Even with limited statistical significance between smoking history and COVID-19 disease severity and outcome, clinical risk differences were observed among smokers. However, further studies may be required to evaluate the association.