Mental health screening and increased risk for anxiety and depression among treatment-seeking smokers
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RESEARCH
Open Access
Mental health screening and increased risk for anxiety and depression among treatment-seeking smokers Nilufer Emre1, Kenan Topal1*, Nurgul Bozkurt2 and Eylem Topaktas1
Abstract Background: The aim of this study was to compare the risk for mental health disorders between smokers and non-smokers and to assess the risk for depression and anxiety according to addiction severity. Methods: This cross-sectional study assesses the mental health status and relationship with the severity of nicotine addiction in a sample of smokers admitted to Pamukkale University Hospital Smoking Cessation Clinic (n = 101) from 1 June 2012 to 31 August 2012 compared to a group of non-smokers from the general population (n = 101). We conducted semi-structured face-to-face interviews to collect sociodemographic data; we assessed the participants’ mental health status with the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and we measured nicotine addiction severity with the Fagerström Test. Results: The risk for mental illness reported by smokers based on the GHQ-12 was significantly higher than that for non-smokers (p = 0.001). The anxiety and depression scores according to HADS were higher among smokers (16.8% and 22.8%, respectively) than non-smokers (4.0% and 5.0%, respectively) (p = 0.006 and p = 0.001, respectively). The nicotine addiction severity was higher in smokers with higher anxiety and depression scores (p = 0.008). Conclusions: We found high scores for mental illness in treatment-seeking smokers compared with non-smokers. The risk for anxiety and depression was higher among smokers. Increased nicotine addiction severity was associated with increased risk for mental illness and increased scores of anxiety and depression. Keywords: Smoking cessation, Nicotine addiction, Mental health, Anxiety, Depression
Background Tobacco is the single most preventable cause of death in the world today, and it is the leading cause of disease, disability, and death in both developed and developing countries. According to The World Health Organization’s Global Status Report on Noncommunicable Diseases 2010, tobacco kills nearly 6 million people per year. As the leading behavioural risk factor for noncommunicable diseases, smoking is estimated to be responsible for approximately 71% of all lung cancer deaths, 42% of chronic respiratory disease cases and nearly 10% of cardiovascular disease cases [1-3].
* Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Department of Family Medicine, Pamukkale University Faculty of Medicine, C103, 20070, Kinikli, Denizli, Turkey Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
The best method for reducing tobacco-related morbidity and mortality is to quit smoking. Professional help and medical treatment significantly increase the cessation rates. Smoking cessation clinics are effective for smoking cessation [4-8]. In Turkey, there are more than 300 smoking cessation clinics, and in general, pulmonologists work at these clinics. Asses
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