AUTHOR=Alberca Ricardo Wesley , Rigato Paula Ordonhez , Ramos Yasmim Álefe Leuzzi , Teixeira Franciane Mouradian Emidio , Branco Anna Cláudia Calvielli , Fernandes Iara Grigoletto , Pietrobon Anna Julia , Duarte Alberto Jose da Silva , Aoki Valeria , Orfali Raquel Leão , Sato Maria Notomi 

TITLE=Clinical Characteristics and Survival Analysis in Frequent Alcohol Consumers With COVID-19

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2021.689296

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2021.689296

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection can generate a systemic disease named coronavirus disease – 2019 (COVID-19). Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic killed millions worldwide, being huge health and economic challenge worldwide. Several risk factors have been associated with poor disease progression and outcomes, such as age, co-infections, metabolic syndrome, and smoking. Alcohol drinking is a common social practice among adults, but frequent and/or excessive consumption can mitigate the anti-viral and anti-bacterial immune responses. Therefore, we investigated if patients with self-reported daily alcohol consumption (DAC) presented alteration in the immune response to SARS-CoV-2. We investigated 122 COVID-19 patients (101 male and 46 females), in which 23 were DAC patients (18 men and 5 women) and 99 were non-DAC patients (58 men and 41 women), without other infections, neoplasia, or immunodeficiencies.  Although no difference in age, DAC patients presented an increase in severity-associated COVID-19 markers such as C-reactive protein, neutrophil count, and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio. Also, DAC patients presented a reduction in the lymphocytes and monocytes counts. Importantly, DAC group presented an increase in death rate in comparison with non-DAC group. Our results demonstrated that in our cohort DAC enhanced COVID-19-associated inflammation, and increased the death  due to COVID-19.