Do you smoke? What you should know in the era of covid-19 1:37
(CNN) - In a letter sent to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), lawmakers urge the agency to temporarily withdraw e-cigarettes from the market during the coronavirus crisis.
The letter, sent Tuesday to FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn, makes this request based on emerging research suggesting that vaping or using e-cigarettes may carry an increased risk of being diagnosed with COVID-19 and suffering from symptoms.
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"This is true of vapers as young as 13, which is particularly concerning given that young people are increasingly driving the spread of Covid-19, threatening the health and safety of Americans of all ages," wrote the Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Illinois), chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy of the House Oversight and Reforms Committee, who sent the letter on behalf of the subcommittee.
In the letter, the subcommittee asks Hahn to confirm by August 18 - within a week - whether the FDA will temporarily remove all e-cigarettes from the market.
Considering that the world still doesn't know much about the new coronavirus that causes covid-19, and that the vaping trend emerged recently, not much is known about how they can be affected or associated.
But some new studies have begun to explore possible connections, specifically around how vapers might have a harder time fighting a coronavirus infection and could possibly be more susceptible to the disease.
"We thought we would see some relationship"
The covid-19 diagnosis was five times more likely among young people who have ever used e-cigarettes, according to a new study referenced in Krishnamoorthi's letter.
The study, based on an online survey, also found that young people who had a history of e-cigarette use and traditional cigarette smoking were seven times more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 compared to those who had never used either. of the products.
“We thought we would see some relationship. We did not expect to see a relationship that is five to seven times more likely. It's huge, ”said Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, professor of pediatrics and director of research in the division of adolescent medicine at Stanford University in California, who led the new study.
The research, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health on Tuesday, also found in its survey that those who reported that they had vaped in the past 30 days were 2.6 times more likely to be tested for COVID-19.
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"About half of the sample was in lockdown - because we asked that - but that doesn't mean they're not in the backyard with a friend sharing their vaping product," Halpern-Felsher said, adding that this increased risk of being diagnosed With covid-19 it could be related to exposure to the coronavirus from sharing products, touching the face more or possibly inhaling droplets that contain the virus through the aerosols of an electronic cigarette. More research is needed.
"We do not know. These are hypotheses, ”said Halpern-Felsher. "In fact, I think it's all of the above," he added.
The study included data on 4,351 young people ages 13 to 24 in the United States who completed an online survey in May.
The survey asked them questions about e-cigarette and traditional cigarette use, along with covid-19-related symptoms, tests, and diagnoses.
“We have seen teenagers who vape with asthma. We have seen seizures. We have seen bronchitis, pneumonia, hospitalizations, lung collapse and now we are seeing covid, ”said Halpern-Felsher of the study results.
The study has some limitations, including the fact that it relied on answers given by anonymous participants themselves online, which can make it vulnerable to bias if respondents do not give honest answers.
Generally speaking, Halpern-Felsher said there is a message for youth and healthcare providers in the survey findings.
"This is a real call for teens to stop using e-cigarettes, to stop using any inhaled products, to stop putting things into their lungs that hurt them," he said. "There is a message for healthcare providers and it is a message for parents: Talk to your teens," she added.
Dr. Brian Williams, a pediatric intern and hospitalist at UW Health and a researcher at the Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention at the University of Wisconsin, called the new study findings "concerning" and added that they give more reasons to stop smoking. smoking or vaping.
When you do a study like this, you are trying to look for a signal. Is there a connection between e-cigarette use and smoking and a covid-19 diagnosis? And it seems like they got a pretty strong signal, ”said Williams, who was not involved in the study. One area that now deserves further study, he said, is why there might be this association between vaping and COVID-19.
Is it something about the ritual of putting your hand to your face? Is it rubbing germs on your face? Is it the result of sharing vaping devices or cigarettes? Or is it about how smoking or vaping is causing inflammation in your respiratory tract or affecting your immune system to make it more susceptible to infection? ”Williams wondered. "Those things are not clear at the moment," he explained.
While many questions remain to be answered, a separate study recently explored how many young adults might be at this increased risk for Covid-19 due to vaping or other risk factors.
Smoking as a risk factor
Nearly a third of young adults have some type of risk factor that makes them medically vulnerable to serious illness if they contract COVID-19, and smoking - including traditional cigarette smoking or e-cigarette use - is the most common risk factor. strong in this age group, according to a study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health in July.
The researchers, from the University of California, San Francisco, looked at more than 8,000 participants between the ages of 18 and 25 who had participated in the National Health Survey to see what their medical vulnerability to severe COVID-19 was relative to the indicators. of risk that had been established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States, including health conditions and smoking habits.
The researchers found that 32% of the total study population was medically vulnerable to severe COVID-19. However, when the group of participants who smoked cigarettes or e-cigarettes was removed from the analysis, the percentage of medical vulnerability decreased by half, to 16%.
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"This difference between the estimates is largely due to the significant proportion of young adults who reported having smoked in the past 30 days (1 in 10) and using e-cigarettes in the past 30 days (1 in 14)" the researchers wrote in their study. "In contrast, relatively fewer young adults reported medical conditions identified by the CDC as conferring a risk of serious illness," they explained.
The research showed that taking into account the entire study population, young adult men were at increased risk for severe COVID-19. Although more women reported having asthma and immune conditions, the higher rates of smoking in men weighed more. However, when looking at only nonsmokers, women were at higher risk.
People who smoke traditional cigarettes are 1.91 times more likely to have COVID-19 progress to a more serious disease than people who have never smoked, according to an article published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research in May.
For that article, other researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, reviewed and analyzed 19 previously published studies on the association between smoking and COVID-19. Those studies included data on a total of 11,590 COVID-19 patients. None of the studies evaluated the use of electronic cigarettes.
In their review of those studies, the researchers found that 29.8% of COVID-19 patients who had a history of smoking experienced progression of their COVID-19 disease to a more serious illness compared to just 17, 6% of non-smoking patients.
In their article, the researchers asked physicians and public health professionals to collect data on smoking and e-cigarette use as part of clinical evaluations among COVID-19 patients.
CNN's Naomi Thomas contributed to this report.
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