According to some studies, smoking may reduce the risk of becoming seriously ill with covid-19. The theory is that it is the nicotine that may have a positive effect on patients. Swedish researchers will now investigate whether using snus can have a similar effect to smoking.
One theory as to why smokers might fare better than non-smokers is that nicotine could bind to receptors that the new coronavirus uses to enter and reproduce in cells.
The theory that smoking could reduce the risk of becoming seriously ill with coronavirus originally came from a French research report. The study found that only a few of all the covid patients admitted to the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris were smokers. Around 25 percent of the French population are smokers, but of the 482 patients hospitalized with severe covid-19, only 5 percent said that they smoked daily.
At the beginning of May, a report from England also stated that smokers are represented to a lesser extent than non-smokers among deaths resulting from covid-19. According to the authors of the report, it appears that smokers run a lower risk of suffering serious complications. But they still warn that smoking is harmful to health.
- If it turns out that snus also appears to protect against severe covid-19, one can draw the conclusion that it has something to do with nicotine. If it turns out that nicotine has a protective effect, the substance could be used in the treatment of covid-19, says Professor Cecilia Magnusson, head of operations at the Centre for Epidemiology and Community Medicine, to DN.
We eagerly await the results of the Swedish research study.
