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could nicotine protect you from covid-19?
with fewer smokers admitted to hospital, the french are suggesting nicotine may help ward off infection.
apr 24 2020
2 minute read
while smoking itself is a risk factor for developing serious covid-19 symptoms, nicotine may prevent them. stock/getty
long before brigitte bardot popularized smoking by sensuously puffing on gauloises, the french embraced smoking. now they’re finding those nicotine-infused lungs may stand a chance in the battle of covid-19.
french researchers are currently planning on testing nicotine patches on front-line healthcare workers pending regulatory approval from health authorities. having seen significantly fewer smokers being admitted to hospitals for covid-19, they’re postulating that nicotine may protect smokers from catching the disease — or developing serious complications.
“based on the current scientific literature and on new epidemiological data which reveal that current smoking status appears to be a protective factor against the infection by sars-cov-2 [1], we hypothesize that the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nachr) plays a key role in the pathophysiology of covid-19 infection and might represent a target for the prevention and control of covid-19 infection,” reads an article from the pasteur institute in paris.
doctors at paris’ pitié-salpêtrière hospital found that of 480 patients who tested positive for the virus, only 4.4% of the 350 who were hospitalized were regular smokers. of those who were sent home due to the milder form of their illness, 5.3% smoked.
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france has a high proportion of smokers. santé publique france, the national health authority, reports that 40% of those aged 44-53 smoke, while between 8.8 per cent and 11.3 per cent of those aged 65-75 are smokers.
chinese authorities have published similar findings. a chinese study in the new england journal of medicine found that although 28 per cent of chinese smoke, only 12.6 per cent of 1,000 people who tested positive for the virus were smokers while the number of smokers in china is around 28 per cent.
the study, co-authored by renowned chinese respiratory scientist zhong nanshan, found that 927 of 1,099 pneumonia patients surveyed were non-smokers, accounting for 85.4 per cent of the total. only 21 or 1.9 per cent had a history of smoking, and 137 were full-time smokers, representing 12.6 per cent of all cases.
the researchers caution that smoking is not encouraged despite the possible connection between nicotine and covid-19. in addition to leading to chronic lung conditions such as asthma, chronic pulmonary obstructive disorder and emphysema, smoking causes seven out of every 10 cases of lung cancer, and can lead to other cancers as well.
but nicotine delivered by patches — that remains to be seen.
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