A new report from the University of California, San Francisco has found that smoking leads to a substantially higher risk of COVID-19 progression.
The analysis of studies included a total of 1,590 patients.
"We found 19 studies from China, the United States and Korea, and what we found is that if you were a smoker, it doubled the risk of the disease worsening once you were diagnosed," Professor of Medicine and Director of the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education Dr. Stanton Glantz said.
Dr. Glantz explained the respiratory system has a very strong immune function and smoking and vaping increase the risk of severe of pulmonary infection.
"The bottom line is, if you smoke, you should quit because fortunately a lot of these adverse affects on your lungs start to resolve family quickly once you stop smoking," Dr. Glantz said.
The study did not show smokers are more at risk of getting COVID-19.
"We do know that if you smoke it makes it more likely you'll catch the flu and the flu will be worse," Dr. Glantz told KCBS Radio. "And the same thing is true for MERS which in another coronavirus."
The precise definition of getting worse varied, but included the likelihood of going into ICU, needing a ventilator or death.
Read the study here.
