ArticleNicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco2023
The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Smoking Among Vulnerable Populations.
Article in Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Living Alone as a Persistent Risk Factor for Smoking and High-Risk Drinking: A Three-Year Repeated Cross-Sectional Analysis Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Republic of Korea.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Demographic trends and mortality disparities in emphysema across the United States (1999-2023): a retrospective population-based study using CDC WONDER database.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2026Article
- Behavioral and psychosocial predictors of e-cigarette use in rural Thailand: A cross-sectional propensity score-matched study.Tobacco induced diseases · 2026Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on liver health: exploring shifts in social and psychosocial determinants of steatosis and fibrosis.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Association of Financial Distress and Monthly Income with Smoking During the COVID-19 Pandemic Recession in Thailand: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Contextualizing Changes in e-Cigarette Use During the Early COVID-19 Pandemic and Accompanying Infodemic ("So Much Contradictory Evidence"): Qualitative Document Analysis of Reddit Forums.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Smoking Status in Pregnancy: A Retrospective Analysis in Northern Greece.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Associations Between U.S. High-School Student and Parental Job Loss During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Student Substance Use: Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey (ABES), 2021.Substance use & misuse · 2025Article
- Tobacco smoking patterns in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: a comprehensive analysis of trends before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- A comparative study on tobacco prevalence and secondhand smoke exposure before and after the lockdown in Rizhao, China: analysis of 2022 and 2024 data.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Review
- A Complex Interplay: Navigating the Crossroads of Tobacco Use, Cardiovascular Disease, and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A WHF Policy Brief.Global heart · 2024Review
- Improvements in mental health associated with increased electronic communication and deterioration in physical health in adults aged 50+ during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- COVID-19 and tobacco products use among US adults, 2021 National Health Interview Survey.Health science reports · 2023Article
- Are we equally at risk of changing smoking behavior during a public health crisis? Impact of educational level on smoking from the TEMPO cohort.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Effectiveness of a Smoking Cessation Program during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Nicotine Use: What Have We Learned?Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2023Article
- Impact of mandatory masking amid the COVID-19 pandemic on outdoor smoking: an interrupted time-series analysis of a 33-month unobtrusive observational study.Frontiers in public health · 2023Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
aimWhile accumulating evidence suggests that people modified their smoking during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it remains unclear whether those most at risk for tobacco-related health disparities did so. The current study examined changes in smoking among several vulnerable smoker populations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
methodsA web-based survey was distributed in 2020 to 709 adults with socioeconomic disadvantage, affective disorders, or opioid use disorder who participated in a previous study investigating the effects of very low nicotine content (VLNC) cigarettes on smoking. Current smoking status and rate, and adoption of protective health behaviors in response to the pandemic (eg social distancing, mask wearing) were examined.
resultsAmong 332 survey respondents (46.8% response rate), 84.6% were current smokers. Repeated measures ANOVA showed that current cigarettes/day (CPD) was higher during COVID than pre-COVID (12.9 ± 1.0 versus 11.6 ± 1.0; p < .001). Most respondents had adopted protective health behaviors to prevent infection (>79% for all behaviors). More than half indicated that they were still leaving their homes specifically to buy cigarettes (64.6%) and were buying more packs per visit to the store (54.5%) than pre-COVID. Individuals unemployed at the time of the survey experienced greater increases in CPD (from 11.4 ± 1.4 to 13.3 ± 1.4, p = .024) as did those with higher levels of anxiety (from 11.5 ± 1.1 to 13.6 ± 1.1, p < .001).
conclusionsSmoking increased during the COVID-19 pandemic in this sample of adults from vulnerable populations, even while most adopted protective health measures to prevent infection. Unemployment and anxiety might identify those at greatest risk for increases in tobacco use. IMPLICATIONS: Individuals from populations especially vulnerable to smoking might be at risk for greater harm from cigarette smoking during times of pandemic-related stress. Public health interventions are warranted to ameliorate increases in smoking among these populations. Special attention should be paid to those experiencing unemployment and high anxiety.
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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.