Lower immunity to tetanus in cigarette smoker subjects

Abstract

Received: February 2013, Accepted: October 2013 Background: Cigarette smoking has been linked with the suppression of immune responses and increased susceptibility to numerous infections in humans. Tetanus is also a major public health problem in many countries. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the serum levels of antitetanus toxin antibodies in cigarette smoking and healthy non-smoking people. Materials and Methods: A total of 100 cigarette smokers and 100 age-matched healthy nonsmoker individuals were enrolled in this descriptive study. A blood sample was collected from each participant. The samples were tested for the levels of anti-tetanus toxin antibodies by use of enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Results: The seroprotective rate of anti-tetanus toxin antibodies in non-smoking group (99%) was significantly higher than that observed in cigarette smoking group (78%, P<0.0001). The mean titer of anti-tetanus toxin antibodies in non-smoking group (5.32± 0.26 IU/ml) was also significantly higher than that in smoker subjects (1.03 ± 0.16 IU/ml; P<0.0001). The mean titer of anti-tetanus toxin antibodies in individuals with smoking duration >10 years was significantly lower than that among smokers with smoking duration ≤10 years (0.59 ± 0.12 IU/ml vs 1.98 ± 0.41 IU/ml; P<0.001). The seroprotection rate was also significantly lower in persons with smoking duration >10 years in comparison to smokers with smoking duration ≤10 years (72.1% vs 90.6%; P=0.037). The mean titer of anti-tetanus toxin antibodies in individuals with daily smoking >10 cigarettes was also significantly lower in comparison to smokers with daily smoking ≤10 cigarettes (0.68 ± 0.15 IU/ml vs 1.63 ± 0.36 IU/ml; P<0.001). Conclusion: These results showed lower levels of anti-tetanus toxin antibodies in cigarette smokers which represents cigarette smoking as a risk factor for susceptibility to tetanus. A negative association was also observed between the immunity to tetanus and smoking burden.

Predictors of the immune response to booster immunisation against tetanus in Czech healthy adults

“…In addition, the same outcome was confirmed with mutually aOR. The effect of smoking on the immune response found in this trial is in line with published results [12]. We found that the chance of achieving a fourfold rise in antibodies was decreased in smokers by almost 90% compared with non-smokers.…”

Estimates and Determinants of SARS-Cov-2 Seroprevalence and Infection Fatality Ratio Using Latent Class Analysis: The Population-Based Tirschenreuth Study in the Hardest-Hit German County in Spring 2020

“…The finding that current smoking was associated with a smaller probability of being seropositive was counter-intuitive under the hypothesis that smoking was associated with a less healthy attitude and more risky behavior. We thus conducted several sensitivity analyses in the search for potential confounding effects and questioning the possibility of whether an impaired ability to mount antibodies might explain our observations [21,22] (Supplementary Note): we found stable associations across age groups and sex (Supplementary Table S9a) and a dose-response effect (Supplementary Figure S2). The association persisted when comparing the known infected with the known uninfected (i.e., restricting to the n = 501 tested, OR = 0.35 for current smoking associated with positive versus negative PCR-test report), which is in line with a hypothesis that current smoking was associated with a lower risk of infection (Supplementary Table S9b).…”

Higher Infection Risk among Health Care Workers and Lower Risk among Smokers Persistent across SARS-CoV-2 Waves—Longitudinal Results from the Population-Based TiKoCo Seroprevalence Study

“…An alternative explanation is a decreased antibody response after infection among smokers compared to non-smokers, in line with a suppressed immune system. Interactions between smoking and the immune system are widely acknowledged (e.g., [ 17 , 18 , 19 ]) and also hypothesized for immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 [ 7 , 20 ]. An evaluation of differences in antibody response by smoking status is lacking so far.…”