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Associations between tobacco smoking and self-reported SARS-CoV‐2 / COVID-19 in the German population

Kotz, Daniel; Perski, Olga; Gali, Kathleen; Brown, James; Kastaun, Sabrina; (2024) Associations between tobacco smoking and self-reported SARS-CoV‐2 / COVID-19 in the German population. Sucht (In press). Green open access

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Abstract

Background: Our aim was to assess, in the general German population, the association between tobacco smoking status and self-reported SARS-CoV‐2 infection, COVID-19 symptom severity, and symptom duration. / Methods: Cross-sectional household survey with face-to-face interviews of representative samples of the German population conducted between 02/2021-04/2022. Associations between smoking status (current, long-term ex-, never) and three self-reported outcomes (corona infection status, symptom severity, and symptom duration) were analysed with regression models, adjusted for a range of potential confounding factors, including vaccination status in a sub-sample. We also ran sensitivity analyses. / Results: 872 people reported an infection (5.4% of 16,028). There was no relevant and statistically significant association between current smoking and long-term ex-smoking compared with never smoking regarding ever being infected with corona (aOR=1.02, 95%CI=0.86-1.20 and aOR=1.03, 95%CI=0.83- 1.28, respectively), symptom severity (aOR=0.84, 95%CI=0.59-1.20 and aOR=0.88, 95%CI=0.55-1.38, respectively), and symptom duration (aβ)=-0.09 months, 95%CI=-0.45-0.28 and aβ=0.002 months, 95%CI=-0.48-0.48). Sensitivity analyses examining the interaction between survey wave and smoking status showed that the risk of an infection increased over time, and this increase was higher in current smokers compared with never smokers. / Conclusions: In the general German population smokers appear to be as likely to acquire a corona infection as long-term ex- and never smokers.

Type: Article
Title: Associations between tobacco smoking and self-reported SARS-CoV‐2 / COVID-19 in the German population
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Publisher version: https://www.hogrefe.com/de/zeitschrift/sucht
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; tobacco smoking; disease severity; disease duration; vaccination; population survey
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Behavioural Science and Health
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10186369
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