A treatment that's better than bleach and easier than placing a UV light up the hidden valley. Doctors at the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital in Paris are looking into an unusual statistical outcome with people who had contracted COVID-19 and experienced milder than normal symptoms. The commonality with these patients was that they were smokers. It is backed up by another unusual statistic, that only ~12% of people infected in China were smokers while that number in the general population runs around 26%. So they are testing nicotine as a preventive for coronavirus, along with nicotine substitutes. To make sure there is no run on patches and gum, France is limiting access to smoking cessation products.
I know this sounds like a load of hydroxychloroquine, so I decided to test my google-fu and see if I can get anything that backs it up. I remember hearing back in February that smokers and vapers were at higher risk for COVID, and in early March the University of California added smoking and vaping to their triage protocols. But now that we've had a couple months to look at the situation, does the concern hold up? Well surprisingly it is not so clear.
According on one article in the European Journal of Internal Medicine, there appears to be no negative association.
In conclusion, the results of this preliminary meta-analysis based on Chinese patients suggest that active smoking does not apparently seem to be signicantly [sic] associated with enhanced risk of progressing towards severe disease in COVID-19.
Over at the Nicotine & Tobacco Research there's a paper that found minor or no risks associated with smoking and COVID, but the jury may still be out.
Vardavas and Nikitara’s recent systematic review identified five studies and concluded that “smoking is most likely associated with negative progression and adverse outcomes of COVID-19.” Conversely, Lippi and Henry’s short meta-analysis reported no association of smoking status with severity of COVID-19. However, the number of cases in most studies to date is very low, and consequently the 95% confidence intervals very wide.
A paper from The FEBS Journal found that smoking might be bad, but vaping not so much (PDF).
Cigarette smoking or nicotine inhalation in volunteers correlates with an acute increase in systolic and diastolic blood pressure as well as increased plasma ACE activity.
Studies on the effects of e-cigs on RAS are inconclusive, and thus, it is not yet clear how the use of these devices will impact infection and prognosis in COVID-19 cases.
Finally, last month the FDA admitted that there is no evidence of vaping making outcomes worse. So maybe the doctors in Paris are onto something? It would figure that a filthy habit Western civilization has been trying to rid itself of would be its savior in time of need. (Like rain on your wedding day?) Either way, looking into nicotine as a solution is at least innovative, and according to Bill Gates innovation is what is really needed right now.
So smoke 'em if you got 'em. It might save your life... for now.