Women smokers more likely to be depressed

William Atkins
Saturday, 04 October 2008 18:59

Science - Health

After ten years of study the women were given a psychiatric assessment.

Dr. Julie Pasco, the lead researcher in the study, states, “It was at this point we were able to determine if depression had developed and investigate whether or not smoking pre-dated the onset of depression.” [University of Melbourne]

In fact, they found that the risk of developing depression more than doubled for women who smoked more than twenty cigarettes per day (what is considered “heavy smokers”) as compared to non-smokers.

Specifically, the researchers found that of the 671 women without depression, 13 of 87 of the smokers (14.9%) developed depression during the decade of study, while 38 out of 584 non-smokers (6.5%) developed depression during this same period.

They concluded, “Evidence from cross-sectional and longitudinal data suggests that smoking increases the risk of major depressive disorder in women.”

Dr. Pasco states, “This shows us that non smokers were at lower risk for developing major depressive disorder, suggesting that smoking may play a role in the development of the disease in women.”

The University of Melbourne media release concludes by stating, “There is also increasing evidence that smoking may aggravate mental illness or contribute to its onset. However, most previous studies have involved short time frames, and this study is the first to investigate smoking using longitudinal data that extends over a ten-year period.”

And, “The researchers observed that depression is a leading contributor to the global disease burden, and called for greater efforts to encourage smokers to quit.”