A narrative review on the association between smoking and schizophrenia symptoms

Abstract

Smoking is commonly observed in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ). However, the relationship between smoking and SCZ-related risk factors remains unclear. In addition, whether smoking works as a self-treatment to alleviate SCZ symptoms is unknown. Our study aimed to investigate the complex relationship between smoking behavior and specific SCZ symptoms. We conducted a literature search on PubMed using the keyword “smoking self-treatment and SCZ” and identified 191 studies. After screening for relevance, 47 studies were included in the study. Most studies confirmed a correlation between smoking status and the severity of negative, positive, and cognitive symptoms in SCZ. In addition, most studies investigated the association between cognitive symptoms and SCZ with inconsistent findings. We confirmed that smoking status is associated with symptom severity, including cognitive, negative, extrapyramidal, and positive symptoms. These findings support the theory of self-treatment and highlight the importance of addressing smoking behavior in SCZ patients.