Scientific paper claiming smokers less likely to acquire Covid retracted over tobacco industry links
Analysis of the paper identified several biases ‘which may give the false impression that smoking is protective in Covid-19’
Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Thu 22 Apr 2021 01.07 EDT
A scientific paper claiming current smokers are 23% less likely to be diagnosed with Covid-19 compared to non-smokers has been retracted by a medical journal, after it was discovered some of the paper’s authors had financial links to the tobacco industry.
The World Health Organization has warned that because smoking impairs lung function, there is an increased risk of severe symptoms if respiratory infections, including coronaviruses, are acquired by smokers. Covid-19 is an infectious disease that primarily attacks the lungs.
But the paper, published in July last year by the European Respiratory Journal, found “current smoking was not associated with adverse outcome” in patients admitted to hospital with Covid, and claimed smokers were at a significantly lower risk of acquiring the virus. The paper was reported on by several mainstream media outlets.
The latest edition of the European Respiratory Journal included a retraction notice for the paper, stating: “It was brought to the editors’ attention that two of the authors had failed to disclose potential conflicts of interest at the time of the manuscript’s submission.”
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/apr/22/scientific-paper-claiming-smokers-less-likely-to-acquire-covid-retracted-over-tobacco-industry-links
= new reply since forum marked as read
Plus you don't inhale it. 
