Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Jul 21, 2021
Open Peer Review Period: Jul 21, 2021 - Sep 15, 2021
Date Accepted: Sep 7, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: Nov 23, 2021
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Sero-epidemiological survey on the impact of smoking on SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 outcomes − The Troina Study Protocol
ABSTRACT
Background:
After the global spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), research has highlighted several aspects of the pandemic, focusing on clinical features and risk factors associated with infection and disease severity. However, emerging results on the role of smoking in SARS-CoV-2 infection susceptibility or Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes are conflicting, and their robustness remains uncertain.
Objective:
In this context, this study aims at quantifying the proportion of SARS-CoV-S antibody seroprevalence, studying the changes in antibody levels over time, and analyzing the association between the biochemically verified smoking status and SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Methods:
The research design involves a 6-month prospective cohort study with serial sampling of the same individuals. Each participant will be surveyed about their demographics and COVID-19-related information, and blood sampling will be collected upon recruitment and at specified follow-up time points (namely, after 8 and 24 weeks). Blood samples will be screened for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies and serum cotinine, being the latter the principal metabolite of nicotine, which will be used to assess participants’ smoking status.
Results:
Overall, we expect to find a higher prevalence of antibodies in individuals at high-risk for viral exposure (i.e., healthcare personnel or other essential workers), according to previous literature, and to refine current estimates on the association between smoking status and SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19.
Conclusions:
The added value of this research is that the current smoking status of the population to be studied will be biochemically verified, in order to avoid the bias associated with self-reported smoking status. As such, the results from this survey may provide actionable metric to study the role of smoking in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 outcomes, and therefore implement the most appropriate public health measures to control the pandemic. Results may also serve as a reference for future clinical research and the methodology could be exploited in public health sectors and policies.
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Copyright
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