Smokers who are depressed or exhibit depressive symptoms make more attempts to quit smoking than non-depressed smokers but tend to relapse within the first month, according to a recent study.
Men who were depressed were more likely to attempt quitting smoking (odds ratio [OR], 1.51, 95 percent CI, 1.24-1.84 for those with depressive symptoms and OR, 1.39, 95 percent CI, 1.01-1.92 for those diagnosed with depression; p<0.05) while only women who were diagnosed with depression had a higher likelihood to attempt quitting (OR, 1.29, 95 percent CI, 1.05-1.59; p<0.05).
Women who attempted quitting were less likely to remain abstinent within 1 month of quitting (OR, 0.58, 95 percent CI, 0.45-0.75 for those with depressive symptoms and OR, 0.38, 95 percent CI, 0.28-0.53; p<0.05 for those with diagnosed depression). Only men diagnosed with depression abstained from smoking 1 month in (OR, 0.67, 95 percent CI, 0.45-0.98; p<0.05). The impact of behavioural and pharmacological support on depression was nonsignificant. [Addiction 2016;doi:10.1111/add.13290]
Participants were 6,811 tobacco smokers from the Four Country International Tobacco Control (ITC-4) study that comprised smokers from Canada, US, UK and Australia.
“The results of this study suggest that the risk of relapse is greater for women with depression than men with depression, and that the use of behavioural support or medication does not mitigate the effect,” said study authors, who highlighted study limitations including inability to determine if the participants were experiencing symptoms of depression at the time of a quitting attempt.
The authors recommended that greater support be given to depressed smokers in the early stage of quitting to improve their success rate. Article source
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