{"id":4348,"date":"2020-07-24T20:40:21","date_gmt":"2020-07-24T20:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=4348"},"modified":"2020-07-24T20:40:21","modified_gmt":"2020-07-24T20:40:21","slug":"one-side-effect-of-covid-19-people-quitting-smoking-in-record-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=4348","title":{"rendered":"One side effect of COVID-19: People quitting smoking in record numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

An interesting story out of the UK: A study done by the University College London showed that more people in the UK quit in 2020 than at any time since 2007. That’s credited to concerns about smokers being more vulnerable to complications from the COVID-19 virus.<\/p>\n

From a BBC article:<\/a><\/p>\n

A team at University College London has been asking 1,000 people a month in England about their smoking habits since 2007 as part of the Smoking Toolkit Study.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the year to June 2020, 7.6% of smokers taking part in the survey quit – almost a third higher than the average and the highest proportion since the survey began more than a decade ago. <\/em><\/p>\n

On average, 5.9% of surveyed smokers quit per year since 2007. <\/em><\/p>\n

Data isn’t complete and plenty of studies are going to be done on the connection between smoking and COVID-19 mortality. However, a lot of signs sure point to smokers doing worse responding to COVID-19 than nonsmokers.<\/p>\n

From the BBC article:<\/p>\n

Data from the Zoe Covid Symptom Tracker app suggested smokers were 14% more likely than non-smokers to develop the three “classic” symptoms of coronavirus infection – fever, persistent cough and shortness of breath.<\/em><\/p>\n

The app, created by researchers at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals and King’s College London, analysed data from more than 2.4 million UK participants. <\/em><\/p>\n

Their analysis found smokers with a positive Covid-19 test were more than twice as likely<\/a> as non-smokers with coronavirus to be hospitalised.<\/em><\/p>\n

This aligns with research from the US<\/a> which found hospitalised smokers with coronavirus were 1.8 times more likely to die. <\/em><\/p>\n

And:<\/p>\n

Public Health England’s guidance states: “There is strong evidence that smoking tobacco is generally associated with an increased risk of developing respiratory viral infections.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Smoking causes damage to the lungs and airways and harms the immune system, reducing your ability to fight infection.” <\/em><\/p>\n

That’s certainly true for me, as I had near-constant respiratory infections every winter from secondhand \u00a0smoke beginning when I was a kid and lasting well into my late 20s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An interesting story out of the UK: A study done by the University College London showed that more people in the UK quit in 2020 than at any time since 2007. That’s credited to concerns about smokers being more vulnerable to complications from the COVID-19 virus. From a BBC article: A team at University College … Continue reading One side effect of COVID-19: People quitting smoking in record numbers<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[924,52],"tags":[926,609],"class_list":["post-4348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid-19","category-quitting-smoking","tag-covid1-19","tag-quitting-smoking"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/111914517_untitleddesign.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4hpEa-188","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3272,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3272","url_meta":{"origin":4348,"position":0},"title":"UK study: E-cigarettes not effective in the longterm in helping smokers quit","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"May 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This study is going to go against a lot of anecdotal stories that I see repeatedly on the Internet. A study done in the UK has shown that E-cigarettes are not very effective for helping smokers quit and that most smokers who use E-cigs as a smoking cessation tool are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "E-cig advertising"","block_context":{"text":"E-cig advertising","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=240"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/e-cig3.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/e-cig3.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/e-cig3.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/e-cig3.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/e-cig3.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3365,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3365","url_meta":{"origin":4348,"position":1},"title":"Study: Risk of heart attack drops to normal 15 years after most smokers quit","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"June 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"An There's an interesting new study out that states that within 15 years of quitting smoking, smokers see their risk of heart attack drop to the same level as non-smokers. The study states that these conditions apply for an average smoker. For a heavy smoker -- a pack a day\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Heart disease"","block_context":{"text":"Heart disease","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=297"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/tips-for-a-healthy-heart.jpg?fit=400%2C273&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3805,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3805","url_meta":{"origin":4348,"position":2},"title":"Study: Going cold turkey most effective way to quit cigarettes","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"March 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"An article in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers say that data shows that quitting cigarettes -- and nicotine -- cold turkey is basically the most effective way to get off cigarettes. 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