A new study, published Monday in the Journal of Adolescent Health, has suggested that at least one in three young adults may face severe COVID-19 illness and they may not shield people from a serious infection.
Researchers at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals looked at nearly 8,400 men and women between the ages of ages 18 and 25 and found that the overall “medical vulnerability” for men was 33% and for women, it was 30%. They found that the impact of smoking surpassed other less common risks.
Lead author Sally Adams and her team determined medical vulnerability to COVID-19 by referencing indicators identified by the CDC, which included heart conditions, diabetes, asthma, obesity, liver conditions, autoimmune diseases – such as lupus, gout, rheumatoid arthritis – and smoking within the previous 30 days.
The researchers also added e-cigarettes to tobacco and cigar use, which are associated with adverse effects on the respiratory and immune systems.
They found that medical vulnerability was more than 31% for all the young adults in the study, which included smokers.
Adams said, “Recent evidence indicates that smoking is associated with a higher likelihood of COVID-19 progression, including increased illness severity, ICU admission, or death. Smoking may have significant effects on young adults, who typically have low rates for most chronic diseases.”
She noted that recent studies have shown that young adults are starting to smoke at a much higher rate than adolescents do, a reversal of previous trends.
Senior author Dr. Charles Irwin said, “The risk of being medically vulnerable to severe disease is halved when smokers are removed from the sample. Efforts to reduce smoking and e-cigarette use among young adults would likely lower their vulnerability to severe disease.”
The researchers also noted gender differences in five vulnerability indicators. For instance, women were more likely to have asthma, obesity, and autoimmune disorders than men were. However, they found that significantly fewer young women smoked than men did, which is why the overall medical vulnerability of women was 29.7% compared with 33.3% for young men. The article originally appeared on Science Daily.
