The COVID‑19 pandemic and the consumption of tobacco and nicotine-containing products: a literature review

Abstract

The fight against the COVID‑19 pandemic has led to the implementation of unprecedented measures in countries, including self-isolation, which have had a significant impact on people’s behavior and could lead to a change in the consumption of tobacco and nicotine-containing products. This article provides an overview of studies evaluating smoking behavior change and its impact on the prevalence of tobacco and nicotine use in the community at the start of the pandemic.Methods. The review included 31 published studies with data on smoking from more than 250,000 people from 24 countries that examined the following aspects of the problem: the association of smoking with COVID‑19 outcomes, identification of factors influencing smoking behavior at the beginning of the COVID‑19 pandemic, changing prevalence of tobacco and nicotine consumption at the start of the COVID‑19 pandemic, tobacco company actions during the pandemic, impact of misinformation about the association of smoking with COVID‑19 on consumers of tobacco and nicotine products, government actions to reduce the sale of tobacco and nicotine products during the pandemic time.Findings. All researchers identified mixed responses from consumers of tobacco and nicotine-containing products early in the pandemic. In equal proportions, smokers increased their tobacco/nicotine intake or reduced their smoking intensity. To a lesser extent, consumers quit smoking, but there were respondents who reported starting smoking due to the COVID‑19 pandemic.Conclusion. Monitoring the prevalence of consumption of tobacco and nicotine-containing products and the causes influencing it in the early periods of the COVID‑19 pandemic made it possible to identify additional effective measures, the implementation of which can prevent the growth of tobacco and nicotine consumption in such situations.