Prevalence of smoking in patients with bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder and schizophrenia and their relationships with quality of life

Xiao-Hong Li,Gabor S Ungvari,Yu-Tao Xiang,Feng-Rong An,Xin Jin,Ping-Ping Wu,Chee H Ng,Helen F K Chiu

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-07928-9

Abstract

Few studies have compared the prevalence of smoking between patients with bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD) and schizophrenia. This study examined the prevalence of smoking and its relationships with demographic and clinical characteristics, and quality of life (QOL) in patients with these psychiatric disorders. A total of 1,102 inpatients were consecutively screened. Psychopathology and QOL were measured with standardized instruments. The prevalence of current smoking in the whole sample was 16.7%; 17.5% in bipolar disorder, 10.6% in MDD and 18.5% in schizophrenia. The rates of smoking in bipolar disorder (p = 0.004, OR = 2.5, 95%CI: 1.3–4.7) and schizophrenia (p = 0.03, OR = 2.0, 95%CI: 1.06–3.8) were significantly higher than in MDD, while no difference was found between bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Smokers had a higher mental QOL than non-smokers (p = 0.007) in MDD, but no difference was found in the other two groups. Male gender, living alone, higher personal income, older age of onset, health insurance coverage, and first episode was significantly associated with smoking in one or more diagnostic groups. Smoking appears more common in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia than in MDD in China. The figures in all disorders were lower than that reported in most of other countries.

Highlights

Smoking is a major public health challenge worldwide, killing around six million people per year[1]
This study examined the prevalence of smoking in patients with bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD) and schizophrenia, and explored the relationships between smoking and demographic and clinical characteristics, and quality of life (QOL) in a large representative sample
Based on previous findings[3, 22], we expected that the prevalence of smoking would be highest in schizophrenia, followed by bipolar disorder and MDD

Summary

Introduction

Smoking is a major public health challenge worldwide, killing around six million people per year[1]. In Western studies, the prevalence of smoking in other psychiatric disorders seems to be lower than in schizophrenia, e.g. 31.2–66% in bipolar disorder[11,12,13,14], and 34–60% in depression[12, 13, 15], but these rates are still much higher than in the general population. Only a few Western studies have directly compared smoking rates across different major psychiatric disorders[3, 22]. To the best of our knowledge, no previous study has compared the smoking rates directly between different major psychiatric disorders in China.

Methods

Results

Conclusion