Association of smoking status with hospitalisation for COVID-19 compared with other respiratory viruses a year previous: a case-control study at a single UK National Health Service trust

Abstract

Background: It is unclear whether smoking increases the risk of COVID-19 hospitalisation. We first examined the association of smoking status with hospitalisation for COVID-19 compared with hospitalisation for other respiratory viral infections a year previous. Second, we examined the concordance between smoking status recorded on the electronic health record (EHR) and the contemporaneous medical notes.

Methods: This case-control study enrolled adult patients (446 cases and 211 controls) at a single National Health Service trust in London, UK. The outcome variable was type of hospitalisation (COVID-19 vs. another respiratory virus a year previous). The exposure variable was smoking status (never/former/current smoker). Logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, socioeconomic position and comorbidities were performed. The study protocol and analyses were pre-registered in April 2020 on the Open Science Framework.

Results: Current smokers had lower odds of being hospitalised with COVID-19 compared with other respiratory viruses a year previous (OR _adj=0.55, 95% CI=0.31-0.96,  p=.04). There was no significant association among former smokers (OR _adj=1.08, 95% CI=0.72-1.65,  p=.70). Smoking status recorded on the EHR (compared with the contemporaneous medical notes) was incorrectly recorded for 168 (79.6%) controls (χ ²(3)=256.5,  p=<0.001) and 60 cases (13.5%) (χ ²(3)=34.2,  p=<0.001).

Conclusions: In a single UK hospital trust, current smokers had reduced odds of being hospitalised with COVID-19 compared with other respiratory viruses a year previous, although it is unclear whether this association is causal. Targeted post-discharge recording of smoking status may account for the greater EHR-medical notes concordance observed in cases compared with controls.