People with mental health problems are able to quit half as often as other tobacco users, which has dramatic consequences for their health.
Despite a sharp drop in the number of smokers last year, a new study reveals that people with mental health problems are able to quit half as often as other tobacco users. Led by scientists from the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and the City University of New York, the research was published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.
Dropout rate
“Overall, smoking cessation programs have been very successful, but our research indicates that people with mental health issues have not benefited,” laments the director of the Renee Goodwin.
Using national surveillance data, his team analyzed smoking cessation rates among Americans with mental illnesses and compared them to those without mental disorders. They focused on a short period of one month. They then found that only 24% of smokers suffering from a psychological problem had succeeded in quitting smoking, against 52% of the population without this kind of medical concern.
Alleviate symptoms
Curiously, patients would be less likely to be offered smoking cessation treatment. “It has long been believed that mental health problems will be exacerbated by quitting smoking and that smoking is beneficial for mental health, but there is growing evidence to support the opposite,” says Renee Goodwin.
Furthermore, in the case of schizophrenia, for example, undiagnosed patients begin to smoke tobacco or cannabis to alleviate their symptoms, developing an even greater addiction. An earlier study by the same author found that depression and anxiety could interfere with quitting smoking. “Tobacco control efforts must urgently focus on people with mental health issues,” concludes Renee Goodwin.
Dramatic consequences on health
The latest public health study in France indicated that women also had much more difficulty quitting smoking. “While between 2016 and 2017 there was a very significant drop in daily smoking with one million fewer smokers, this drop was not homogeneous. In particular, smoking did not decrease among women of 45-54 years old, unlike all the other age groups”, warns François Bourdillon, general manager at Public Health France, on the occasion of the third month without tobacco.
And as for people suffering from mental illnesses, the health consequences are dramatic. According to the latest BEH, the number of deaths attributable to smoking doubled among women between 2002 and 2015. Over the same period, mortality from lung cancer and COPD (a lung disease, editor’s note) increased respectively by 71 % and 3% in women, while it decreased by 15% and 21% in men.
In the same dynamic, the frequency of new cases of lung cancer increased by 72% among women between 2002 and 2012, while it remained stable among men. Regarding COPD, the number of hospitalized patients doubled between 2002 and 2015 in women, and increased by “only” 30% in men. For myocardial infarction, the incidence increased by 50% between 2002 and 2015 in women under 65, compared to 16% in men.
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