ArticleNicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco2020
Smoking Prevalence and COVID-19 in Europe.
Article in Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 83 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trial
- COVID-19 vaccination lowers SARS-CoV-2 infection risk independent of diabetes, cancer and smoking in SHIP-COVID cohort, Northern Germany.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Severe COVID-19 in Non-Smokers: Predictive Factors and Outcomes.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Smoking Rates and Disease Severity in COVID-19 Patients at Masih Deneshvari Hospital.Tanaffos · 2025Article
- Impact of Smoking and Deprivation in Patients Admitted With Severe COVID-19 Infection to ICU: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Interdisciplinary perspectives on infectious diseases · 2025Article
- The role of vaccination, testing, and public restriction policies in COVID-19 mortality and incidence: insights from Global Burden of Disease regions.Archives of medical science : AMS · 2025Article
- Protecting effects of smoking against COVID-19: a community-based retrospective cohort study in middle- and older-aged adults.Internal and emergency medicine · 2024Article
- Risk Factors for COVID-19 and Respiratory Tract Infections during the Coronavirus Pandemic.Vaccines · 2024Article
- Smoking prevalence, exposure to secondhand smoke, and factors associated with smoking among medical, dental, and pharmacy students in a public university in Malaysia.Tobacco induced diseases · 2024Article
- Cigarette Smoking and Depression Among U.S. Veterans: Longitudinal Associations With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2023Article
- The predisposition of smokers to COVID-19 infection: A mini-review of global perspectives.Heliyon · 2023Review
- Examining Disparities in Current E-Cigarette Use among U.S. Adults before and after the WHO Declaration of the COVID-19 Pandemic in March 2020.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- The association between risk perceptions, anxiety, and self-reported changes in tobacco and nicotine product use due to COVID-19 in May-June 2020 in Israel.BMC public health · 2023Article
- What Do We Need to Know About Rising Rates of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis? A Narrative Review and Update.Advances in therapy · 2023Review
- Association of cannabis use during pregnancy with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection: a retrospective cohort study.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2023Article
- Tobacco Smoking and Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Disease Severity Among Adults in an Integrated Healthcare System in California.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2023Article
- E-Cigarette Vapour Increases ACE2 and TMPRSS2 Expression in a Flavour- and Nicotine-Dependent Manner.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- The association between tobacco use and COVID-19 in Qatar.Preventive medicine reports · 2022Article
- Article
- Substance, use in relation to COVID-19: A scoping review.Addictive behaviors · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThis ecological study investigates the association between smoking prevalence and COVID-19 occurrence and mortality in 38 European nations as of May 30, 2020.
methodsData were collected from Our World in Data. Regression analysis was conducted to adjust for potential confounding factors such as economic activity (gross domestic product), the rate of COVID-19 testing, and the stringency of COVID-19 control policies.
resultsThere was a statistically significant negative association between smoking prevalence and the prevalence of COVID-19 across the 38 European nations after controlling for confounding factors (p = 0.001). A strong association was found between the prevalence of COVID-19 per million people and economic activity (p = 0.002) and the rate of COVID-19 testing (p = 0.0006). Nations with stricter policy enactment showed fewer COVID-19 cases per million people, but the association was not significant (p = 0.122). Delaying policy enactment was associated with a greater prevalence of COVID-19 (p = 0.0535). Evidence of a direct association between smoking prevalence and COVID-19 mortality was not found (p = 0.626). There was a strong positive association between COVID-19 mortality rate and the prevalence of COVID-19 cases (p < 0.0001) as well as the proportion of the population over 65 years of age (p = 0.0034) and a negative association with the rate of COVID-19 testing (p = 0.0023).
conclusionsWe found a negative association between smoking prevalence and COVID-19 occurrence at the population level in 38 European countries. This association may not imply a true or causal relationship, and smoking is not advocated as a prevention or treatment of COVID-19. IMPLICATIONS: Given the evidence of this ecological study, and of several other studies that found an underrepresentation of smoking prevalence in hospitalized cases, it may be worth examining, in laboratory experiments and controlled human trials, if nicotine offers any protection against COVID-19. Most importantly, to date, no study, including this one, supports the view that smoking acts as a treatment intervention or prophylaxis to reduce the impact or ameliorate the negative health impacts of COVID-19.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.