Protecting Vulnerable Groups from Tobacco-related Harm During and Following the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Thursday, July 15, 2021
Posted by: Natalia Gromov
Melamed
OC, Zawertailo L, Schwartz R, Buckley L, Selby P.
Protecting Vulnerable
Groups from Tobacco-related Harm During and Following the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Health Promot Chronic Dis Prev Can. 2021 Jun 23;41(10). English, French. doi:
10.24095/hpcdp.41.10.02. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34164973.
Marginalized populations are being disproportionally affected by the current
pandemic. Direct effects include higher infection rates with greater morbidity
and mortality; indirect effects stem from the societal response to limit the
spread of the virus. These same groups also have smoking rates that are
significantly higher than the general population. In this commentary, we
discuss how the pandemic has been acting to further increase the harm from
tobacco endured by these groups by applying the syndemic framework. Using this
approach, we elaborate on the factors that promote clustering of harms from
tobacco with harms from COVID-19. These include the worsening of psychological
distress, a potential increase in smoking behaviour, greater exposure to
second-hand smoke and less access to smoking cessation services. Then, we offer
mitigation strategies to protect disadvantaged groups from tobacco-related harm
during and following the COVID-19 pandemic. These strategies include affordable
smoking cessation services, a proactive approach for smoking treatment using
information technology, opportunistic screening and treatment of tobacco
dependence among individuals presenting for COVID-19 vaccination, policy
interventions for universal coverage of cessation pharmacotherapy, comprehensive
smoke-free policies and regulation of tobacco retail density. Now more than
ever, coordinated action between clinicians, health care systems, public health
organizations and health policy makers is needed to protect vulnerable groups
from the harm of tobacco.
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