Posted on 03/04/2006 7:12:53 AM PST by billorites
The likelihood of suffering major depression seems to be increased among smokers, especially those who smoke heavily, study findings suggest.
Researchers in Norway who followed a population-based group of adults for 11 years found that those who smoked were more likely than non-smokers to become depressed, and the risk climbed in tandem with the number of cigarettes smokers puffed each day.
Heavy smokers -- those who burned through more than 20 cigarettes a day -- were four times more likely than people who'd never smoked to develop depression.
A number of factors the researchers considered -- including physical health, exercise and stressful life events -- failed to explain the link between smoking and later depression. This suggests, they say, that smoking may directly contribute to the development of the mood disorder.
For instance, nicotine may over time change brain levels of the emotion-related chemical serotonin, which appears to be reduced in people with depression, the study's lead author, Dr. Ole Klungsoyr, told Reuters Health.
Klungsoyr and colleagues at the University of Oslo report their findings in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
A number of studies have found that smokers have higher-than-average rates of depression, but an unanswered question has been which comes first. People who are under chronic stress or who are prone to depressive symptoms, for example, may be particularly likely to take up smoking.
The current study, however, found no evidence that past depression symptoms were strongly linked to subsequent smoking. Only 15 percent of depression cases arose before study participants started smoking, the researchers report.
Their findings are based on interviews, conducted 11 years apart, with 1,190 men and women age 18 and older. All participants answered questions about their lifestyle and mental health, and were assessed for clinical depression at both time points.
Overall, the risk of developing depression by the second interview climbed along with the number of cigarettes a smoker had each day. Potential explanations like physical health problems or greater stress among smokers did not change the relationship between smoking and depression.
It's possible, Klungsoyr said, that other factors the study could not consider -- like personality traits that make a person prone to both depression and smoking -- are responsible. More studies are needed to replicate the current findings, he added.
But in the meantime, Klungsoyr said, the possible connection to depression offers yet another reason to quit or never take up smoking. "It is one more argument on an already very long list," he noted.
Did it not occur to them that maybe they smoke because they are depressed?
Pin-a-ling
What studies could be needed. Just sit down and pen whatever you want to say. That is how it is usually done.
...so true, this headline is like saying firefighters are at more risk of getting burned.. People who smoke tend to think about things too much which can make anyone depressed.
You took the words right out of my mouth, gator.
The title could easily be: "Depression tied to risk of smoking."
If I had to shell out $4 for a pack of cigarettes every day, I'd be depressed too.
I think it's because we pay all them taxes to smoke that we are depressed
It did. From the article: It's possible, Klungsoyr said, that other factors the study could not consider -- like personality traits that make a person prone to both depression and smoking -- are responsible.
Did the study consider what was being smoked?
My thoughts too - often, smoking is a symptom of depression and stress. After Katrina, a whole slew of folks either started or picked it up again.
or "Smoking Eases Symptoms of Depression"
Bupropion is marketed as Wellbutrin (anti-depressant) and as Zyban (smoking cessation).
How about studying depression in ex-smokers? Especially the ones who did not want to quit. Want to bet the rate is far higher?
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell has a whole section about this, where he discusses how many heavy smokers are genetically predisposed to depression and self medicate with smoking because nicotine replaces key chemical imbalances and temporarily reduces depression symptoms for those individuals. Hence the reason why certain antidepression drugs help smokers quit- they fix the chemical imbalance that nicotine has been fixing for them.
neither of which work if you have depression
They addressed the issue of which came first. Epidemiologists, for the most part, can't do experiments which would more directly examine causality.
They'd ~never~ write a headline like that. Makes smoking look beneficial.
Cigarettes have become the One True Evil in society. *shakes head*
It's enough to depress anyone!
To be expected.
Average age when smokers take up the habit is <18 YO.
Average age of onset of depression is 25 YO.
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