A study by scientists at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and City University of New York found that people with mental health problems quit cigarettes at half the rate of those without psychological distress.
So even as more and more Americans quit smoking cigarettes, individuals with serious psychological distress are much less likely to extinguish their habit.
The findings are published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.
"Overall, tobacco cessation programmes have been very successful, but our research suggests that people with mental health problems have not benefitted from these," said Dr Renee Goodwin from the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School, and senior author.
Using data from the 2008-2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health the researchers analyzed cigarette quit rates among people in the US with and without serious psychological distress (SPD) in the past month. Symptoms of SPD can include feeling nervous, hopeless, worthless, restless or fidgety, or so depressed that nothing can cheer one up.
They found that smokers with serious psychological distress in the past month have approximately half the quit rate compared to those without the condition, 24 percent versus 52 percent. "This trend may be contributing to increasing disparities in smoking rates between those with and without mental health problems," said Goodwin.
Differences in quit rates may be due to whether and to what degree persons with SPD are seen regularly by healthcare providers. But even if they are, these individuals may be less likely to be offered smoking cessation treatment than those without mental health problems, according to Goodwin and colleagues.
"There has been a long-held belief that mental health problems will be exacerbated by quitting smoking and that smoking is helpful to mental health," said Goodwin, "but increasingly data support just the opposite."
An earlier study by Goodwin and colleagues found that mental health problems such as depression and anxiety appear to impede successful quitting and sustained abstinence. "It is increasingly clear that tobacco control efforts targeted for those with mental health problems are urgently needed to increase quit rates for this group of smokers and to lower the prevalence of smoking overall," said Goodwin.
Cigarette smoking quit rates among persons with serious psychological distress in the United States from 2008–2016: Are mental health disparities in cigarette use increasing?
Nicotine & Tobacco Research
Abstract
Prior work suggests that the prevalence of cigarette smoking is persistently higher among people with mental health problems, relative to those without. Lower quit rates are one factor that could contribute to higher prevalence of smoking in this group. The current study estimated trends in the cigarette quit rates among people with and without past-month serious psychological distress (SPD) from 2008–2016 in the United States.
Methods
Data were drawn from 91,739 adult participants in the 2008–2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a repeated, cross-sectional, national survey. Linear time trends of cigarette quit rates, stratified by past-month SPD, were assessed using logistic regression models with continuous year as the predictor.
Results
Cigarette quit rates among individuals with past-month SPD were lower than among those without SPD every year from 2008 to 2016. Quit rates did not change appreciably among those with past-month SPD (OR=1.02 (0.99, 1.06)) from 2008 to 2016, whereas quit rates increased among those without past-month SPD (OR=1.02 (1.01, 1.02).
Conclusions
In the US, quit rates among individuals with past-month SPD are approximately half that of those without SPD and have not increased over the past decade. This discrepancy in quit rates may be one factor driving increasing disparities in prevalence of smoking among those with versus without mental health problems.
Tobacco control efforts require effective and targeted interventions for those with mental health problems.
Authors
Joanna M Streck, BA Andrea H Weinberger, PhD Lauren R Pacek, PhDMisato Gbedemah, MPH Renee D Goodwin, PhD, MPH
[link url="https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-11-cigarette-smokers-mental-health-problems.html"]Quit rates are low and not increasing among cigarette smokers with mental health problems[/link]
[link url="https://academic.oup.com/ntr/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/ntr/nty227/5142686?redirectedFrom=fulltext"]Cigarette smoking quit rates among persons with serious psychological distress in the United States from 2008–2016: Are mental health disparities in cigarette use increasing?[/link]