Put smokers in Covid-19 high-risk category, govt told
PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Medical Association has urged the health ministry to categorise smokers as a Covid-19 high-risk group, saying there are signs that the virus affects them more severely than others.
MMA president Dr Subramaniam Muniandy said smoking impaired the function of the lungs, making it difficult for the body to fight off respiratory problems brought about by the infection.
Calling for a detailed list of the various vulnerable groups, he said smokers should be among them.
“Current evidence suggests that the severity of Covid-19 is higher among smokers,” he told FMT.
He said disabled persons, senior citizens, those with medical conditions and those working in high-risk jobs should also be in the list.
“Even those who don’t go for regular medical check-ups carry a certain risk as they are not aware of their current health status. Those with undiagnosed illnesses can be unknowingly at risk.”
Subramaniam advised people to schedule an appointment for a medical check-up, saying an early diagnosis of any health issue would make for a better outcome in the long run.
Malaysian Medics International chairman Dr Vikkineshwaran Siva Subramaniam said a review of existing studies for the World Health Organization found that smokers were associated with more severe symptoms and an increased risk of death among hospitalised patients.
However, he said, there was insufficient evidence to conclusively say that smoking would make infections more likely.
“Smoking dampens our overall health and immune system.” he said. “We also know that patients who are active smokers face many difficulties with respiratory illnesses. It is also much more challenging to ventilate smokers.
“The most likely explanation for smoking as a risk factor for Covid-19 is that people who smoke are more prone to developing chronic lung diseases and cardiovascular diseases, making them more likely to have conditions known to be associated with a more unsatisfactory outcome from Covid-19.”
Vikkineshwaran also said one’s body mass index could be used as a risk classification since there was evidence that Covid-19 patients with higher BMI seemed to suffer more.
“We also have evidence that shows malnourished or undernourished patients are succumbing to the illness,” he said.
Dr Awang Bulgiba Mahmud, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Universiti Malaya, lamented that the health ministry had not shared its granular data on the third wave of Covid-19 with experts outside the ministry.
Awang Bulgiba, who is secretary-general of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, is in a group of epidemiologists called CEASe (Covid-19 Epidemiological Analysis and Strategies), which specialises in various analytical techniques.
He said the unavailability of granular data made it difficult for researchers like him to help determine the Covid-19 risk factors that would lead to a severe form of the disease or death.
“This can be easily discovered if granular data on this third wave was made available to my group, for example, as we are skilled in epidemiological research,” he said.
He said the sharing of data would help in the fight against the pandemic in the long run.
“We have been asking for that granular data, especially for this third wave, but all our requests have been turned down. Despite our best efforts, we have been denied access.”
Vikkineshwaran said identifying high-risk groups amid a health crisis was a major challenge faced by healthcare systems, adding that there were frequent variations in the trajectory of victims before their death.
“As much as we would like to identify the high-risk groups early, sometimes it is just not possible to predict it. There is never one template to fit all,” he said. - FMT
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