Study Indicates Drug Use a Factor in COVID Breakthrough Infections

Fully vaccinated individuals with substance use disorders were more likely to have breakthrough COVID-19 infections than those without such disorders, researchers found.

Adjusted analyses found that breakthrough infections were higher in patients with all types of substance use disorder, except tobacco, and were the highest among cocaine users (HR 2.06, 95% CI 1.30-3.25) and cannabis users (HR 1.92, 95% CI 1.39-2.66), reported Lindsey Wang, PhD, of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and colleagues.

However, when matching patients with and without substance use disorders for lifetime comorbidities and social determinants of health, only increased risk for breakthrough infection among cannabis users remained significant (HR 1.55, 95% CI 1.22-1.99), the authors wrote in World Psychiatry.

"This may indicate that additional variables, such as behavioral factors or adverse effects of cannabis on pulmonary and immune function, could contribute to the higher risk for breakthrough infection in this group," they noted.  ...