COVID-19 among Smokers and Non-smokers in Erbil City, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Background and objectives: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a severe respiratory syndrome caused by a novel strain of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), became a global public health concern and was declared a pandemic by WHO. The associations between smoking and COVID-19 infection and the outcomes were ambiguous. This study aimed to determine the associations of self-reported confirmed cases of COVID-19 among smokers and to compare it with the rate among non-smokers in Erbil City. Methods: This cross-sectional house survey was conducted between September 2021 and June 2022 through a multi-stage cluster sampling method on a sample of 2601 respondents in Erbil city through direct interviews using a specially designed questionnaire to collect data. Results: The mean age was 38.75 + 13.79 years (range 18 to 76 years). More than half (58.9%) of the sample were males. The proportion of current daily smokers was 44.3%, and 33.2% were those who had never smoked before. 17.5% of the sample were infected by the COVID-19 virus during the pandemic. There was a statistically significant association between the occurrence of COVID-19 and the age, gender, marital status, education level, occupation, smoking status, and socioeconomic level of participants. Conclusion: The occurrence of COVID-19 among smokers was significantly higher than among non-smokers. A statistically significant association was found between self-reported confirmed cases of COVID-19 and the age, gender, marital status, education level, occupation, smoking status, and socioeconomic level of participants.