A study of more than 44,000 patients with the new coronavirus in China revealed a disturbing fact that men are more likely to die from diseases associated with the infection. This may be related to smoking.
Other studies evaluating Chinese cases published in scientific journals such as The Lancet and the Journal of the American Medical Association have raised the same question.
Although the exact reason behind this phenomenon is unknown at this time, there are hypotheses pointing to a well-known male dangerous habit-smoking.
An article published this month in The Lancet can help us understand this gender difference. The article details that smoking is associated with increased expression of ACE2, a protein used by novel coronaviruses to enter human cells.
In other words, it is an accelerator that helps infectious agents enter the body and then start to multiply uncontrollably.
Another upcoming study finds that ACE2 is more prevalent in Asian men. This may be related to the fact that, according to 2018 data, Chinese men have a higher smoking rate than women (288 million and 12.6 million, respectively).
Following this idea, Professor Stanton Grants of the University of California, San Francisco stated on the university portal: "In Chinese patients diagnosed with the new coronavirus pneumonia, the rate of deterioration (including death) of smokers is 14 times other patients. "
However, the current scientific literature does not yet support smoking as a factor that makes people more vulnerable to new coronavirus pneumonia. More detailed analysis is needed for more cases and different races.
The report states that, although more research is needed to accumulate more evidence, experts agree that smoking or using e-cigarettes can exacerbate the symptoms of new coronavirus infections.
"Influenza infection causes inflammation of the respiratory tract and sometimes even inflammation of the lungs. If coupled with inflammation caused by smoke, the damage to the respiratory system will be even greater. This principle is also applicable to new coronaviruses." Sebass, a Florida lung expert Dean Fernandez-Bucy said.
According to the expert, e-cigarettes contain a liquid that, when heated and turned into an aerosol, carries zinc, lead, manganese, volatile substances, and ultrafine particles. All of these substances can trigger acute or chronic inflammation, which changes the body's defense mechanisms.
Fernandez-Bucy explained that the habit of smoking can cause chronic lung damage and eventually reduce breathing capacity. As a result, these patients, such as those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, will have reduced respiratory capacity to cope with the infection in the event of any pulmonary infection (such as new coronavirus pneumonia).
Experts stress that, although not very common, new coronaviruses may reach the lungs.
Once there, it can cause pneumonia or inflammation of the lungs, but "everything depends on the response of each person's immune system and the degree of inflammation caused by the virus."
Grants said that medical institutions should add non-smoking, e-cigarette and second-hand smoke to the list of new coronavirus pneumonia precautions, and he believes that this is an ideal time to strengthen smoking cessation regulations.
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