Smokers are more likely to get seriously ill or die from Covid-19

Studies show that smokers are more likely to become ill or die if they are infected with Covid-19 than non-smokers.

By Kim Moodie of rnz.co.nz

About 13 New Zealanders die daily from smoking or exposure to indirect smoking. Many health problems are also related to habits — lung cancer and illness, diabetes, heart disease, stroke — and now worse consequences from the coronavirus.

Dr. Bryan Betty, medical director of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, said smoking impairs lung function.

“Tobacco smoked lungs become more difficult to get rid of infections and mucus over time,” he said.

“Therefore, the infection can land in the lungs much more easily. This is one of the problems with Covid-19.

“We also know that smoking is associated with blood pressure, heart disease, and many other conditions that have worse consequences for Covid-19.”

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Gebreyes, Director of the World Health Organization, warned last year that smoking increases the severity of respiratory illness and increases the likelihood that people will become seriously ill from Covid-19.

“Smokers are up to 50% more likely to develop serious illness or death from Covid-19, so the best ways smokers can do to reduce the risk of this coronavirus are cancer, heart disease, and breathing. Organ disease “.

and, Research by researchers at King’s College London Smokers infected with Covid-19 were more likely to require twice as much hospital care and were more likely to report more symptoms from nonsmokers.

But I also found research About half of the smokers surveyed in New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom heard little or no about the risk of Covid-19 to them.

In the last three months of 2021, more people wanted to break their habits, said Jordan Taiaroa, service manager at Quitline.

“I saw about 250 people join the service,” he said.

“It can be due to a variety of things. We continue what we’ve been doing during the New Year’s resolutions, when everyone is trying to quit smoking, and the recent blockade just over, and the quit smoking blockade. People who are motivated to do so, or quit smoking after the blockade. “

According to Taiaroa, about 28,000 people registered for Quitline’s service during the year to June 2021.

Smoking rates in New Zealand are declining. 10.9% of adults are smokers, which is high between Maori and Pacifica, 25% in Maori and 19% in Pacifica.

And the pandemic is useless. Last year’s researchers found that people who felt pain and loneliness during the country’s first blockade were three times more likely to smoke.

Lealailepule Edward Cowley of Hāpaite Haoura said that stress levels are high and people who are trying to quit need help.

“Because people who go to heaven too early are our brothers, sisters, mothers, uncles, cousins, and members of our family, it’s a community-wide approach that will bring people across the line,” he said. Said.

“So if someone in my family is in that position, I want to keep them longer, so I motivate them to have that conversation, support them, and try to quit from them. It will be imposed on me to do something.

“The more conversations we have within our families and communities, the easier it is for people to access services that we couldn’t do before, because we now have a wealth of options.”

Robert Beaglehole, Professor Emeritus of the Action for Smokefree 2025 (ASH), said that all smoking cessation programs are doing the right thing, but they needed to take a deeper root in people’s lives.

“There are still 380,000 people who smoke every day. They all help, encourage and understand that they all smoke, perhaps to be a harmless product at first, and finally smokeless. We need them, “said Beagle Hall.

“It doesn’t make sense to punish people, blame them, and tell them what to do. We have to get along with them in their community, and there’s much more we can do in that regard. . “

Beagle Hall said increasing investment in community outreach programs to help smokers in parallel with mass media campaigns to promote smoking cessation services would be of great help.

“It’s very difficult to quit smoking. You need more people to try to quit smoking more often, and you need to help them,” he said.

Smokers should also be encouraged to switch cigarettes to traditional nicotine replacement therapies such as patches, gums and vapors on the road to smokelessness, he said.