The Effects of Smoking in Patients in the Intensive Care Unit During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objectives: In this study, we aimed to see the effects of smoking prevalence, the length of stay regarding the usage of cigarettes, and the effects on the mortality of COVID-19 in our Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Methods: This is a retrospective single-centered study that was done in the ICU on patients with COVID-19 between 16th of March and 16th of May in 2020. The demographic data, comorbidity status, the units they were accepted from, clinical symptoms, respiratory support, prevalence of smoking, length of stay in the ICU, and mortalities of the patients were recorded. There were two groups: Smoker and non-smoker. There were 1100 COVID-19 patients and 150 of these were treated in ICU unit. 95 patient’s data were accessed. Statistical analyses were performed with the Scientific Package for the Social Science (version 21.0; SPSS Inc.). Results: There were 69.4% non-smoker and 35.8% smoker, and 5.3% of the smoker did smoke before (Table 1). The average age of the patients in smoker group was less than nonsmoker. The incidence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was higher in smokers (Table 2). The most common symptom was cough and it was 82% in nonsmoker group and 76.5% in smoker group (Table 3). In both groups, respiratory support was provided by ÝMV (Table 4). There was no relationship between two groups according to age (p=0.044) and gender of patients (p: 0.062) (Table 2). The length of ICU stay was 7.6 days for smoking patients in the ICU and 9.3 days for non-users. While the mortality was 52.9% for smokers, it was 39.3% for non-smokers. No statistical correlation was found between smoking status, length of stay in ICU, and survival (Fig. 1). Smoking is blamed among the factors that cause this aggressive process, which can progress to respiratory failure and result in mortality in COVID-19 disease.
Conclusion: Some studies also claim that smoking can be protective. There is still no clarity on this issue. It was concluded that smoking has no effect on the duration of ICU stay and mortality in patients treated in the ICU with respiratory failure due to COVID-19 pneumonia.

COVID-19 Pandemisi Sýrasýnda Yoðun Bakým Ünitesindeki Hastalarda Sigara Ýçmenin Etkileri

Amaç: Bu çalýþmada Yoðun Bakým Ünitemizde (YBÜ) sigara içme prevalansýnýn, sigara kullanýmýna baðlý kalýþ süresinin ve COVID-19 mortalitesi üzerine etkilerini görmeyi amaçladýk.
Gereç ve Yöntem: 16 Mart-16 Mayýs 2020 tarihleri arasýnda COVID-19 hastalarý üzerinde yoðun bakým ünitesinde yapýlan retrospektif tek merkezli bir çalýþmadýr. Demografik veriler, komorbidite durumlarý, kabul edildikleri birimler, klinik semptomlar, solunum desteði, hastalarýn sigara içme sýklýðý/prevalansý, yoðun bakýmda kalýþ süreleri ve mortaliteleri kaydedildi. Hastalar sigara içen ve içmeyen olarak iki gruba ayrýldý. 1100 COVID-19 hastasý vardý ve bunlardan 150'si yoðun bakým ünitesinde tedavi gördü. 95 hastanýn verilerine ulaþýldý. Ýstatistiksel analizler Sosyal Bilimler için Bilimsel Paket ile yapýldý.
Bulgular: Hiç sigara içmemiþ hastalar %64.2'di. Bu hastalarýn %5.3'ü daha önce sigara içen, %30,5'i ise aktif içici idi. Sigara içen gruptaki hastalarýn yaþ ortalamasýnýn içmeyenlere göre daha az olduðu görüldü. Sigara içenlerde kronik obstrüktif akciðer hastalýðý insidansý daha yüksek bulundu. Sigara içme durumu, yoðun bakýmda kalýþ süresi ve saðkalým arasýnda iliþki bulunamadý. Sigara kullanýmý, COVID-19 hastalýðýnda solunum yetmezliðine kadar ilerleyebilen ve ölümle sonuçlanabilen agresif sürece neden olan faktörler arasýnda yer almaktadýr.
Sonuç: Bazý araþtýrmalar da sigaranýn koruyucu olabileceðini iddia etmektedir. Bu konu hakkýnda henüz bir netlik yoktur. COVID-19 pnömonisine baðlý solunum yetmezliði olan YBÜ'de tedavi edilen hastalarda sigara içmenin yoðun bakýmda kalýþ süresi ve mortalite üzerinde etkisi olmadýðýný ortaya koydu. (SETB-2023-01-012)