EFFECT OF THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC ON SMOKING BEHAVIOR: LIBRARY STUDY

Aulia Devi Isnaini

Fakultas Kesehatan Masyarakat, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia

[email protected]

 

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Received:

02-02-2022

Covid-19 is an infectious disease that attacks the respiratory system. A person who smokes will be more susceptible to contracting Covid-19 due to a decrease in lung function caused by prolonged smoking activity. Studies in some cases have shown a negative correlation between Covid-19 and cigarettes, where smokers will have a higher risk of Covid-19 severity than nonsmokers. Some research results reveal that during the Covid-19 pandemic there was a mixed reaction from smokers. Some smokers decided to quit smoking after the Covid-19 pandemic based on personal awareness about the adverse effects of smoking, especially at this time. While not a few people increase cigarette consumption. This happens due to various factors, one of which is due to a lack of public knowledge of the adverse effects of smoking. So that there is a need for public awareness of the importance of a healthy lifestyle by stopping or reducing smoking.

Accepted:

12-02-2022

Published:

20-02-2022

Keywords:

: Covid-19, Pandemi, Kebiasaan Merokok, Perokok

Corresponding Author: Aulia Devi Insane

E-mail: [email protected]

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INTRODUCTION

Smoking is an activity that is found in Indonesia. According to WHO, Indonesia is one of the countries with the most cigarette consumption in the world. Smoking habits in Indonesia are not only limited to one circle but have expanded throughout society. The number of cigarette industries that are also one of the big contributors to the country's economy and easy access to get it also affects the high number of smokers in Indonesia.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking can damage almost any organ in the body, cause many diseases, increase the risk of death, and generally lower the health of those smokers. Smoking can increase the risk of lung cancer, throat cancer, chronic asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema.

Coronavirus Disease 19 or commonly known as Covid-19 is an infectious disease caused by a new type of coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 that attacks the respiratory system. The virus, which was initially discovered and developed in Wuhan, China, in a short time managed to spread widely throughout the country, including Indonesia. The disease is transmitted by inhalation or contact with infected droplets and the incubation period ranges from 2 to 14 days. Symptoms are usually fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, fatigue, and others. The disease has mild symptoms in most people, while in some others, usually the elderly and people with congenital diseases, it may develop into pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and multi-organ dysfunction (Singhal, 2020).

Unlike the flu in general, clinical studies show the most common symptoms of a COVID-19 sufferer are fever, fatigue, and dry cough. Other symptoms include muscle pain, tightness of the chest and respiratory tract, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. A computerized chest tomography (CT) scan shows a typical sign of a virus that indicates pneumonia (Dong et al., 2020).

There are similarities between diseases caused by smoking and the symptoms shown by Covid-19 disease, both of which have an impact primarily on the respiratory system. The risk of experiencing severe Covid-19 is twice that in smokers compared to nonsmokers (Vardavas & Nikitara, 2020). Based on Daniel et al.�s research from 2020 to January 2021, it was found that there was a significant difference between patients treated and died from Covid-19 who had a history of smoking and patients who had no history of smoking at all. This is also supported by research conducted on the Chinese population, patients infected with COVID-19 and smoking have a higher risk for the development of the virus in the body, other than if the patient has never smoked (Sabrina & Ichsan, 2021).

 

METHODS

The type of data used is secondary data, where the data to be analyzed in this study is data derived from the literature that discusses the topics studied such as data from government agencies, scientific articles, textbooks, journals, and previous research. The authors compiled this paper using several different sources. These sources include several articles that can be found on scientific websites by including the right keywords, government regulations, previous research published in public health journals, and others. Articles are compiled by collecting and filtering data from previous articles accessed from various databases, such as PubMed and Google Scholar by entering keywords relevant to the topics to be discussed, including "Covid-19", "pandemic". "smoker", and "smoking habit".

The data analysis techniques used in this study start by analyzing the most relevant research results until they reach the most irrelevant. As well as looking at the research time; Based on the order of years of research, starting from the most recent research then continued until the oldest research. The analysis process is also continued by reading a summary of the literature used and recording important parts relevant to the problems raised in the study. Any sources of information used in literature studies should also be included to avoid any form of plagiarism if the information comes from someone else's idea.

 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Based on studies that have been conducted using several sources of literature about previous research on the relationship of the Covid-19 pandemic with people's smoking behavior, it was found that there is a negative association where a person's smoking habit can be a factor that increases the severity of symptoms when the person is infected with Covid-19. Covid-19 sufferers who have a history of cigarette consumption have the potential to experience 2 times the worsening clinical symptoms caused by decreased lung function and Covid-19 virus infection that manifests especially in the digestive tract (Atmojo, Arradini, Darmayanti, Widiyanto, & Handayani, 2021).

Chertok, in his study entitled "Perceived risk of infection and smoking behavior change during COVID-19 in (Chertok, 2020) conducted by surveying 810 respondents with various backgrounds, said that most participants (75.4%) think that smoking increases the risk of COVID-19 infection and most (93.0%) think that smoking increases the severity of infection. In his research, Chertok revealed that there has been a change in smoking behavior among current smokers and those who quit since COVID-19, with 36.7% trying to quit smoking since the outbreak occurred. There was a significant difference in risk perception between people who had no desire to quit smoking and those who said there was a desire to quit smoking, namely that those who wanted to quit felt a higher risk of Covid-19 infection.

(Koyama et al., 2021) revealed in their study that of all respondents studied, there was an increase in the number of cigarettes smoked by 32.1% and 11.9% of respondents quit smoking. From the study, it can be known that the group of respondents of the male ketamin type and the older age group tend to prefer to quit smoking. While respondents who worked from home or lived alone experienced a much higher increase in cigarette consumption.

According to a survey conducted by (Chertok, 2020) that discussed changes in smoking behavior during the pandemic in Italy, it was found that there was a decrease in cigarette consumption during the lockdown period. This aspect may be related to several factors including 1) the opportunity for smokers to undergo the habits associated with cigarette consumption such as cigarettes smoked during daily socialization activities in the gathering place of young people; 2) Variations in the lifestyle habits of each smoker's family; for example, spending more time at home and reducing cigarette consumption out of respect for their families; 3) fear of the development of COVID-19 because the cough is common in smokers and people who are COVID-19 positive.

In his research on cigarette consumption during the pandemic in one of the regions in Indonesia, (Naresawari, Wijayanti, Oktaviani, & Santoso, 2020) said that there was an increase in cigarette sales in some stores, and the majority of cigarette enthusiasts during the pandemic period also increased. Those who consume cigarettes are many teenagers the reason of wanting to try, fill their free time and others without knowing the negative impact and effect on Covid-19 transmission.

The control of smoking habits to prevent the increased severity of manifestations of Covid-19 disease is also strongly influenced by public knowledge about the reciprocal relationship between smoking and Covid-19 disease itself. Therefore, it is necessary to disseminate information in general so that the public can know the dangers of smoking, especially when amid a pandemic. Research from (Grummon et al., 2020) which examined the public's reaction to messages regarding the dangers of smoking and Covid-19, states that the results of smoking messages with a higher risk of Covid-19 severity lead to a higher perception of the effectiveness of preventing smoking than messages without mentioning it. Messages linking smoking to Covid-19 may be promising for preventing smoking and may have additional benefits as well as preventing e-cigarettes.

According to (Atmojo et al., 2021) having a ������������ healthy physical condition is one of the efforts to protect yourself from Covid-19 attacks. Therefore, efforts to stop smoking or reduce the intensity of smoking during a pandemic is one step that will have a positive effect during the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

CONCLUSION

There are various trends changing people's smoking habits in different pandemic times. Some smokers have noticed a negative correlation between smoking and the severity of Covid-19 transmission, so they decided to quit. But in some groups, there is still an increase in cigarette consumption during the pandemic caused by various factors, one of which is due to lack of knowledge or information about the impact of cigarettes that can increase the risk of transmission of Covid-19 disease. Therefore, the need for widespread dissemination of information related to Covid-19 and smoking habits. That is the pandemic period people must maintain physical conditions to avoid Covid-19 attacks, one of which is by quitting smoking.

 

REFERENCES

Atmojo, Joko Tri, Arradini, Dewi, Darmayanti, Aquartuti Tri, Widiyanto, Aris, & Handayani, Rina Tri. (2021). Dampak Merokok terhadap Covid-19. Jurnal Ilmiah Permas: Jurnal Ilmiah STIKES Kendal, 11(1), 169�176.

Chertok, Ilana R. Azulay. (2020). Perceived risk of infection and smoking behavior change during COVID‐19 in Ohio. Public Health Nursing, 37(6), 854�862.

Dong, Xiang, Cao, Yi‐yuan, Lu, Xiao‐xia, Zhang, Jin‐jin, Du, Hui, Yan, You‐qin, Akdis, Cezmi A., & Gao, Ya‐dong. (2020). Eleven faces of coronavirus disease 2019. Allergy, 75(7), 1699�1709.

Grummon, Anna H., Hall, Marissa G., Mitchell, Chloe G., Pulido, Marlyn, Sheldon, Jennifer Mendel, Noar, Seth M., Ribisl, Kurt M., & Brewer, Noel T. (2020). Reactions to messages about smoking, vaping, and COVID-19: two national experiments. Tobacco Control.

Koyama, Shihoko, Tabuchi, Takahiro, Okawa, Sumiyo, Kadobayashi, Takayoshi, Shirai, Hisaya, Nakatani, Takeshi, & Miyashiro, Isao. (2021). Changes in smoking behavior since the declaration of the COVID-19 state of emergency in Japan: a cross-sectional study from the Osaka health app. Journal of Epidemiology, 31(6), 378�386.

Naresawari, Avinda Dea, Wijayanti, Eny, Oktaviani, Fevi Indri, & Santoso, Aris Prio Agus. (2020). Analisis pengguna rokok di masa pandemi COVID-19 di Kecamatan Nogosari. Prosiding HUBISINTEK, 1, 72.

Sabrina, Saskia, & Ichsan, Burhannudin. (2021). Hubungan Kebiasaan Merokok dan Penderita Covid-19: Studi Literatur. Proceeding of The URECOL, 508�512.

Singhal, Tanu. (2020). A review of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). The Indian Journal of Pediatrics, 87(4), 281�286.

Vardavas, Constantine I., & Nikitara, Katerina. (2020). COVID-19 and smoking: A systematic review of the evidence. Tobacco Induced Diseases, 18.

 

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