Smokers at greater risk of severe complications from COVID-19

He said the data was obtained through a study by the Ministry of Health (MOH) involving 5,889 COVID-19 patients treated nationwide from Feb 1 to May 31, 2020.

Of the 5,889 patients, 791 were smokers (773 men and 18 women) with the majority aged 30 and above, he said.

"The findings show that smokers are almost twice as likely to develop severe complications than non-smokers," he told a press conference here today.

The study is a collaboration between the International Islamic University Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia and MOH through the Disease Control Division, Medical Development Division as well as National Institutes of Health.

Dr Noor Azmi said the findings were in line with the June 30, 2020 scientific brief by the World Health Organisation on smoking and COVID-19.

Meanwhile, MOH Tobacco Control Sector head Dr Nor Aryana Hassan said the 791 smokers already had chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure (16.7 per cent), diabetes (12.3 per cent), heart problems (5.2 per cent) and chronic lung conditions (1.1 per cent).

The study also showed that 14.2 per cent of smokers were COVID-19 category three patients who had lung infections but did not need respiratory assistance, 4.4 per cent were category four patients who had lung infections and needed respiratory support while 1.6 per cent were category five or critical patients.

Earlier, Dr Noor Azmi launched the phase three of the smoking cessation service, mQuit through the newly improved https://jomquit.com/.