Gholamreza Heydari

Title : COVID 19 and smoking: More severity and death – An experience from Iran

Abstract:

Tobacco Prevention and Control Research Center, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran,

Background: Few studies have shown that smokers are more likely than nonsmokers to contract COVID 19, while others report that smokers are underrepresented among those requiring hospital treatments for this illness. This study was designed and implemented for investigating the severity and outcome of COVID 19 based on underlying smoking status.

Materials and Methods: This was a case–control study that was implemented in Tehran and Ahvaz with all COVID 19 patients from February to July 2022. Patients were divided into two groups of COVID 19 positive (1044 cases) and negative (1231 controls) randomly based on entrance number.

Results: The frequency of smokers in the case group is significantly lower than the control group (15.4% vs. 28%). However, the number of days of hospitalization and the use of more than 3 medications in the group of smokers were significantly higher. A comparison between groups of case and control based on smoking indicates that the death rate was significantly higher in smokers with COVID 19.

Conclusions: The results of this study showed that although the number of smokers in COVID 19 patients is significantly lower, smokers run an aggressive curse and have higher mortality.

Biography:

Gholamreza Heydari currently is director of Tobacco Prevention & Control Research Center based in Tehran, Iran, completed his MD in 1996 and he had MPH and PhD degree on epidemiology from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. Dr. Heydari is former director of WHO Collaborating Center on Tobacco Control in Eastern Mediterranean region. He is chairman and editor in chief of monthly tobacco control journal in Iran. Also he is the senior associate editor of tobacco regulatory science journal.

He is conducting several studies on tobacco control and smoking cessation in Iran. He, as a national expert on tobacco control program, had more than 80 papers internationally. He attended many training courses such as Classical Method in Data Analysis, Erasmus Medical University, Netherlands, December 2001 and Tobacco Free Initiative for Clinicians, St. George’s Hospital, London, England, July 2002 and Smoking Cessation, European Respiratory Society School, Bucharest, Romania, December 2004 and Methods in Epidemiologic Clinical and Operations in Research, American Thoracic Society, Cesme, Turkey, 2011 and 2012.