Characteristics of people with mental disorders differ between currently smoking and ceased smoking

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Although the prevalence of smoking is higher among people with mental disorders compared to those without mental disorders, people with mental disorders are less successful for smoking cessation. This study examined the variation in characteristics of people with mental disorders across those who are current smokers and former smokers. Methodology This study used the Public Used Microdata File of the Canadian Community Health Survey 2012. (n = 25,113). People with any mental health disorder in the last 12 months were identified using the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview instrument. Smoking status was classified based on self-report responses as: current, former, and never smoking. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between the characteristics of people with mental disorders and smoking cessation (vs continuation). Results Overall, the prevalence of current smoking, former smoking, and nonsmoker were 37.5%, 33.6%, and 28.8% respectively. Immigrants compared to Canadian-born (OR = 0.6, 95% CI = 0.3, 0.8) and those who were single (either widowed or divorced or separated or single) compared to married or living with a partner (OR = 0.4, 95% CI = 0.1, 0.6) were less likely to quit smoking. Similarly, less educated and young people were also less likely to quit smoking. Conclusions Young people, living alone, less educated, and immigrants are less successful to quit smoking. Findings indicate the social disparity in smoking cessation among people with mental disorders. This may have been related to the barriers in accessing smoking cessation support among this group. Key messages Findings underscore the disparity in smoking cessation among people with mental disorder. Implementation of tailored, personalized smoking cessation support may be helpful to address the challenges.