Those who smoke bidi-cigarettes and chew tobacco are more at risk of Covid than the common people. Their recovery also takes longer than other patients and changes in lungs have also been found more. A large study has been done on 900 patients by the Department of Respiratory Diseases of Kota Medical College, in which all these facts have come to the fore.
The study found that patients who smoked or chewed tobacco had a CT score of no less than 12, while many non-smokers had a CT score as high as 7. This study was done on patients admitted to Covid Hospital last month. Oxygen requirement was also higher for such patients as compared to other patients.
Dr. Anil Saxena, Senior Professor, Department of Respiratory Diseases said that the summary of this study is being prepared, soon it will be sent for publication. He told that it is generally believed that the risk of Covid is high in such patients, but we have done this study to prove it scientifically. This study has been done on patients admitted to Covid Hospital in May 2021 in the second wave of Covid.
As soon as the data of patients for the study was started collected, it was found that out of 900 people, 507 were people who chewed tobacco or were smokers. That is, 56.33% of the total patients included in the study were victims of these addictions.
- 900 patients were included in the study, of which 527 were Covid positive and 373 negative.
- 507 people were found to be smoking and tobacco users, out of which 205 used to smoke and 302 used to chew tobacco.
- Out of 205 smokers, 121 were positive and 84 were negative.
- Of the 302 tobacco chewers, 173 were positive and 129 were negative.
The facts that came out
- Tobacco chewers and smokers had CT scores between 12 and 20, while other patients had lower CT scores.
- The Ct value of the RT-PCR test was between 16 and 20 in these patients, although it should have been higher.
- The recovery of these patients took time. Of these, about two dozen such patients are still admitted, 25 to 30 days have passed since they were admitted.