Imperial College London

Dr Anthony Laverty

Faculty of MedicineSchool of Public Health

Senior Lecturer
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 5312a.laverty Website

 
 
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Location

 

322Reynolds BuildingCharing Cross Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@unpublished{Hopkinson:2020:10.1101/2020.05.18.20105288,
author = {Hopkinson, NS and Rossi, N and El-Sayed, Moustafa J and Laverty, AA and Quint, JK and Freydin, MB and Visconti, A and Murray, B and Modat, M and Ourselin, S and Small, K and Davies, R and Wolf, J and Spector, T and Steves, CJ and Falchi, M},
doi = {10.1101/2020.05.18.20105288},
publisher = {Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory},
title = {Current tobacco smoking and risk from COVID-19: results from a population symptom app in over 2.4 million people},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.18.20105288},
year = {2020}
}

RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - UNPB
AB - Background The association between current tobacco smoking, the risk of developing COVID-19 and the severity of illness is an important information gap.Methods UK users of the COVID Symptom Study app provided baseline data including demographics, anthropometrics, smoking status and medical conditions, were asked to log symptoms daily from 24th March 2020 to 23rd April 2020. Participants reporting that they did not feel physically normal were taken through a series of questions, including 14 potential COVID-19 symptoms and any hospital attendance. The main study outcome was the association between current smoking and the development of “classic” symptoms of COVID-19 during the pandemic defined as fever, new persistent cough and breathlessness. The number of concurrent COVID-19 symptoms was used as a proxy for severity. In addition, association of subcutaneous adipose tissue expression of ACE2, both the receptor for SARS-CoV-2 and a potential mediator of disease severity, with smoking status was assessed in a subset of 541 twins from the TwinsUK cohort.Results Data were available on 2,401,982 participants, mean(SD) age 43.6(15.1) years, 63.3% female, overall smoking prevalence 11.0%. 834,437 (35%) participants reported being unwell and entered one or more symptoms. Current smokers were more likely to develop symptoms suggesting a diagnosis of COVID-19; classic symptoms adjusted OR[95%CI] 1.14[1.10 to 1.18]; >5 symptoms 1.29[1.26 to 1.31]; >10 symptoms 1.50[1.42 to 1.58]. Smoking was associated with reduced ACE2 expression in adipose tissue (Beta(SE)=-0.395(0.149); p=7.01×10-3).Interpretation These data are consistent with smokers having an increased risk from COVID-19.Funding Zoe provided in kind support for all aspects of building, running and supporting the app and service to all users worldwide. The study was also supported by grants from the Wellcome Trust, UK Research and Innovation and British Heart Foundation.
AU - Hopkinson,NS
AU - Rossi,N
AU - El-Sayed,Moustafa J
AU - Laverty,AA
AU - Quint,JK
AU - Freydin,MB
AU - Visconti,A
AU - Murray,B
AU - Modat,M
AU - Ourselin,S
AU - Small,K
AU - Davies,R
AU - Wolf,J
AU - Spector,T
AU - Steves,CJ
AU - Falchi,M
DO - 10.1101/2020.05.18.20105288
PB - Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
PY - 2020///
TI - Current tobacco smoking and risk from COVID-19: results from a population symptom app in over 2.4 million people
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.18.20105288
UR - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.18.20105288v1
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/85716
ER -