Secondhand Smoke Associated With Psychiatric Distress, Illness

Exposure to secondhand smoke appears to be associated with psychological distress and the risk of future psychiatric hospitalization among healthy adults, according to a report posted online that will appear in the August print issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

Mark Hamer, Ph.D., of University College London, and colleagues studied 5,560 non-smoking adults (average age 49.8) and 2,595 smokers (average age 44.8) who did not have a history of mental illness and participated in the Scottish Health Survey in 1998 or 2003. Participants were assessed with a questionnaire about psychological distress, and admissions to psychiatric hospitals were tracked over six years of follow-up.

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Exposure to secondhand smoke among non-smokers was assessed using saliva levels of cotinine -- the main product formed when nicotine is broken down by the body -- "a reliable and valid circulating biochemical marker of nicotine exposure," the authors write. A total of 14.5 percent of the participants reported psychological distress. Non-smokers with a high exposure to secondhand smoke (cotinine levels between 0.70 and 15 micrograms per liter) had higher odds of psychological distress when compared with those who had no detectable cotinine.

Over the six-year follow-up, 41 individuals were newly admitted to psychiatric hospitals. Smokers and non-smokers with high exposure to secondhand smoke were both more likely than non-smokers with low levels of secondhand smoke exposure to be hospitalized for depression, schizophrenia, delirium or other psychiatric conditions.

Animal data have suggested that tobacco may induce a negative mood, and some human studies have also identified a potential association between smoking and depression. "Taken together, therefore, our data are consistent with other emerging evidence to suggest a causal role of nicotine exposure in mental health," the authors write.

www.sciencedaily.com...

Not sure about this, but i have never smoked and hated it. 20 years ago they laughed at me for saying its disgusting, and it is.

Not sure about this study, but it irritates me, and they also say the same chemicals are in womens purfume which i do not like either.

Bet he got a nice grant for his fearmongering!

reply to post by Carseller4


I can assure you I am no fearmonger.
I was just posting an interesting article I found. Sorry if it offends you

I really don`t care if someone smokes, it`s none of my business. Sometimes is good to know what the media or the science say even if they are lying. It`s what they, keep your enemy closer.

[edit on 8/6/10 by sandri_90]

reply to post by sandri_90


The comment was not directed at you, but at science in general. The more shocking the findings (which are planned in advance ie. global warming) the more grant money it produces.

Well this information isn't from a 'scientific study" or anything serious like that. Its just a reflection of the real world.

www.statehealthfacts.org...

Notice that California (King of the anti-smoking states) and Utah (very religious state with very low smoking rate) rank among the highest for reports of poor mental health.

Kentucky and Tennessee have very high smoking rates and rank very low in mental health issues

Do you ever get the feeling that someone is lying? I wonder how much grant money this study was worth?

TIRED OF CONTROL FREAKS