ArticleDrug and alcohol review2026
Association Between Perceived COVID-19 Risk and Current Use of Any Nicotine Product Amongst Adolescents in Saudi Arabia.
Article in Drug and alcohol review, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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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.
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
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Abstract
introductionThe COVID-19 pandemic created a unique context for tobacco-related risk communication amongst adolescents. This study examined the link between COVID-19-related smoking risk perceptions and current nicotine use amongst Saudi school adolescents.
methodsData were drawn from the 2022 Saudi Arabia Global Youth Tobacco Survey, a nationally representative school-based survey (overall response rate: 92.3%). The analytic sample included 4984 adolescents aged 13-15 years. The primary outcome was current use (≥ 1 day in the past 30 days) of any nicotine product, including cigarettes, shisha, smokeless tobacco, heated tobacco products and electronic cigarettes. Key exposures were beliefs about whether smoking affects COVID-19 infection risk and illness severity. Survey-weighted logistic regression estimated crude and adjusted odds ratios (aOR), adjusting for sex, grade, weekly spending, parental and peer smoking and school tobacco education. Product-specific sensitivity analyses were performed.
resultsOverall, 10.7% of adolescents reported current nicotine use. Adolescents who believed smoking reduced the risk of COVID-19 infection had higher odds of nicotine use compared with those who believed it increased risk (aOR = 3.77; 95% CI 2.52-5.65). Similarly, perceiving that smoking reduced COVID-19 severity was associated with higher odds of use (aOR = 2.34; 95% CI 1.49-3.67). In sensitivity analyses, associations for perceived reduced infection risk were observed for both cigarette smoking (aOR = 4.44; 95% CI 2.83-6.99) and non-cigarette nicotine use (aOR = 4.09; 95% CI 2.96-5.66). DISCUSSION AND
conclusionsBeliefs that smoking lowers COVID-19 risks are strongly linked to adolescent nicotine use, underscoring the need for accurate risk communication in youth tobacco prevention.
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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.