Age and smoking predict antibody titers after the BNT162b2 COVID‐19 vaccine

Smoking cessation before vaccination with the BNT162b2 COVID‐19 vaccine may improve the individual efficacy of the vaccine according to findings from a study recently published in the journal Vaccines. ¹ In the new study, researchers set out to evaluate antibody (Ab) titers 3 months after the second dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine and to explore clinical variables predicting these titers in Japan. The researchers found that age and smoking habit were the most important factors associated with low Ab titers.

For their study, the Japanese researchers enrolled 378 health care workers (255 women and 123 men) and then collected blood samples 91 ± 15 days after the second of 2 inoculations of the BNT162b2 COVID‐19 messenger RNA vaccine (Pfizer/BioNTech) given 3 weeks apart. The investigators gathered medical histories and demographic characteristics by using a structured, self‐reported questionnaire and then analyzed the relationships between Ab titers and these factors.

The median age of the participants was 44 years. The median Ab titer against the SARS‐CoV‐2 spike antigen was 764 U/mL. Patients who were older had significantly lower Ab titers; the median Ab titers were 942 and 1095 U/mL in men and women in their 20s, respectively, but 490 and 519 U/mL in men and women in their 60s and 70s, respectively. In the age‐adjusted analysis, the only risk factors for lower Ab titers were male sex and smoking, but the researchers say that the sex difference may have arisen from the sex difference in smoking rates. Ab titers were significantly lower in participants who currently smoke than in participants who no longer smoke.

O’Rourke K. Age and smoking predict antibody titers after the BNT162b2 COVID‐19 vaccine. Cancer. 2022. 10.1002/cncr.34082