Smoke, Smoking, and COVID

Abstract

When smoke gets in your eyes. How many of you want to sing it rather than say it? Oh to be in that time frame rather than dealing with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the issue of when smoke gets in your lungs. Better known as COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the coronavirus, Rona, and so forth, not much more is known about it than was known in March of 2020 and the first situation red lockdown. Researchers are still arguing about the origin, when it started, what symptoms to watch for, whether to mask or not, and whether the vaccines do confer immunity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website has dedicated COVID-19 pages. Two years later, there are lots of theories, almost 80 million COVID cases with 1million COVID deaths in the United States, and an escalating trend (81,000 a year in 2020 to 93,000 by early 2022) of overdose deaths. More than half of them are attributable to opioids, and states are experiencing escalating trends from 38% to 98% (CDC, 2022). CDC. www.cdc.gov https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/covid-19/wildfire_smoke_ covid-19.html https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/covid-19/covid-19_resources_ for_professionals.html https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/covid-19/reduce_exposure_ to_wildfire_smoke_covid-19.html The National Interagency Fire Center monitors natural disasters and has issued a warning for the upcoming wildfire season. Resource documents, including one archived from 2019, alert users of the CDCwebsite to an increased potential for wildfires again this spring. Exposure to wildfire smoke air pollutants irritates the lungs, causing inflammation and altering immune function. Individuals who are exposed to the smoke are perceived to have increased susceptibility to respiratory infections including COVID-19. The information on this website is considered accurate, objective, and current because the website speaks with the authority of a government-sponsored agency. BMJ Journals. https://thorax.bmj.com/content/77/1/65 Clift, A. K., von Ende, A., Tan, P. S., Sallis, H. M., Lindson, N., Coupland, C. A. C.,Munafò,M. R., Aveyard, P., HippisleyCox, J., & Hopewell, J. C. (2022). Smoking and COVID-19 outcomes: An observational and Mendelian randomization study using the UK Biobank cohort. Thorax, 77, 65–73. Using a cohort of over half a million study participants from the Biobank in the United Kingdom, researchers asked, “What is the key question? Does cigarette smoking increase risk of severe COVID-19? What is the bottom line? In this study using UK Biobank, we obtained congruent results from observational analyses (n = 421469) and Mendelian randomization analyses (n = 281105) regarding increased risk of COVID-19-related hospitalization and death in smokers. Why read on? Together, the results from our two analytical approaches support a causal effect of smoking on the risk of severe COVID-19.” This is original research made available through Open Access. Check the website of the British Medical Journals whose authority supports the accuracy, currency, objectivity, and coverage for additional information. National Institutes of Health (NIH). National Library of Medicine (NLM). National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34328284/ Korzeniowska, A., Ręka, G., Bilska,M., & Piecewicz-Szczęsna, H. (2021). The smoker's paradox during the COVID-19 pandemic? The influence of smoking and vaping on the incidence and course of SARS-CoV-2 virus infection as well as possibility of using nicotine in the treatment of COVID-19—Review of the literature. Przeglad Epidemiologiczny, 75(1), 27–44. 10. 32394/pe.75.03.. The title encompasses the aim of this literature review. Authors used scientific publications available up until November 14, 2020, from the PubMed platform to describe the current state of knowledge about the impact of traditional cigarettes and their nicotine content on the incidence and course of SARS-CoV-2 infection to determine the possibility of using nicotine to treat COVID-19 infections. As a cholinergic agonist and proinflammatory cytokines inhibitor, would nicotine reduce the ability for coronavirus to enter cells? Researchers found no reason to recommend smoking as a treatment approach but did indicate a need for further study. The importance of fighting addiction to reduce the adverse health effects of smoking was acknowledged. PubMed is the search engine for the official library for the federal government's National Carolyn Baird, DNP, MBA, RN-BC, CARN-AP, CAADC, FIAAN, Meredith Counseling and Consulting, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the editorial/article. Correspondence related to content to: Carolyn Baird, DNP, MBA, RN-BC, CARN-AP, CAADC, FIAAN, Meredith Counseling and Consulting, 119 Joyce Dr., Canonsburg, PA 15317. E-mail: carolynabaird@comcast.net DOI: 10.1097/JAN.0000000000000461