--- title: "Study: Nicotine May Lower Risk of Catching Coronavirus" description: "According to a major Paris hospital study, tobacco could be saving smokers from catching COVID-19. Researchers suggest it could be the nicotine." date: "2020-04-22" modified: "2020-04-22" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/smoking-cigarettes-lower-risk-coronavirus" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" - "Medical" - "Pathogens" - "Viruses" tags: - "coronavirus" - "covid19" - "nicotine" - "smoking" --- # Study: Nicotine May Lower Risk of Catching Coronavirus ![According to a major Paris hospital study, tobacco could be saving smokers from catching COVID-19. Researchers suggest it could be the nicotine.]() *\Image: Basil MK via Pexels\* According to a major Paris hospital study, [*The Guardian* reports](), tobacco could be preventing smokers from catching COVID-19. "Our cross-sectional study strongly suggests that those who smoke every day are much less likely to develop a symptomatic or severe infection with Sars-CoV-2 compared with the general population,” [the study]() reads. The researchers did have to state the obvious: Smoking is often-fatal, and almost certainly outweighs the negative effects of COVID-19 itself. But the finding gave them an intriguing idea, which they plan to test soon: provide patients and frontline workers with nicotine patches, to see whether they still catch the disease. The researchers found that out of 350 hospitalized COVID-19 patients at a Paris hospital with a median age of 65, only 4.4 percent were smokers. In 130 patients who were allowed home with less serious symptoms, the median age was 44 and only 5.3 percent smoked. By comparing these numbers to the number of people who smoke in the general population, about 40 percent for people between the ages of 44 and 53 and 9 to 11 percent for 65-75, they found that far fewer smokers seem to have been infected — 0r at least experienced serious symptoms as a result of being infected that resulted in hospitalization. Jean-Pierre Changeux, a renowned French neurobiologist, told *The Guardian* that nicotine may be hindering the coronavirus from entering cells in the body, stopping the thread. **READ MORE:** [French researchers to test nicotine patches on coronavirus patients]() \[*The Guardian*\] **More on the virus:** *[Doctor: There's a Weird Link Between Vape Lung and COVID-19]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()