Which kids get hooked on tobacco?

Many children have a quick puff on a cigarette from time to time but not all of them go on to get hooked on tobacco. Researchers from Columbia University in New York studied 660 children, all of whom had smoked a cigarette when they were first interviewed in Year 6. The children were then followed up in Year 10 to see whether they had become hooked on tobacco. The researchers found that enjoying a first puff on a cigarette, having parents who smoked, being hooked in Year 6 and smoking more in Year 6 had the strongest effects on adolescent nicotine dependence in Year 10. Perceived peer smoking and teenage behaviour problems were less important factors.

Hu, Mei-Chen ... [et al] - Risk and protective factors for nicotine dependence in adolescence

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02362.x

Smoking and mental health - feeling glum and giving up

Giving up smoking could be as good for people's mental health as it is for their bodies despite the fact that people often say they smoke because it makes them feel less anxious or depressed. Researchers from Brown University in Rhode Island studied 236 men and women who were trying to give up. 99 of them never managed to give up at all, 33 managed to give up for the whole 28 weeks of the study and the rest gave up temporarily. Those who managed to quit temporarily had fewer depression symptoms when they weren't smoking but after they had relapsed their mood got worse, in some cases ending up worse than before they had stopped. The participants who never gave up were the unhappiest of all the groups whereas the ones who managed to abstain over the whole course of the study were the happiest to begin with and remained at the same level of happiness throughout.

New evidence on smoking and dementia

A large U.S. study of over 21,000 people has added to the considerable pile of evidence linking smoking to dementia. The study - carried out by Dr Rachel Wittmer from the U.S. health organization Kaiser Permanente - found that smoking 40 or more cigarettes a day led to a 157% increase in the risk of Alzheimer's disease and a 172% increase in the risk of vascular dementia. However, there was no increase in risk in those smoking less than ten cigarettes a day and people who gave up smoking by middle age had the same level of risk as people who had never smoked.

Teenage smoking and depression

Teenagers who smoke to cheer themselves up may actually be more prone to depression. Researchers from the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre studied 662 teenagers asking them about their smoking habits and their mood. The participants were divided into three groups: those who had never smoked, those who smoked but did not do so to 'self-medicate' and those who smoked to improve their mood. Those who used cigarettes as mood-enhancers had higher risks of elevated depressive symptoms than those teenagers who had never smoked.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Smokers' brains show subtle changes

Researchers from Yale University have been studying the brains of people trying to give up smoking. The participants in the study were using cognitive therapy to try and give up, a treatment which stresses the long-term benefits of not smoking. The participants showed increased activity in the prefrontal cortex - an area associated with cognitive control and rational thought - and decreased activity in the striatum, a part of the brain associated with drug-craving and reward-seeking behaviour.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Smoking, ADHD and high-school dropouts

Teenagers who smoke or have been diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are more likely to drop out of school. Researchers from the University of California, Davis studied 29,662 people asking them about their mental health as teenagers, whether they took drugs, smoked or drank when they were at school and whether they had dropped out of high school. The study found that 28.6% of the students with ADHD had dropped out compared to 26.6% with mania and 24.9% with a mood disorder. However, smoking was even worse with 29% of students who smoked dropping out of school. Using drugs and drinking increased dropout rates but only if pupils smoked as well; once smoking was taken into account drink and drugs had no effect on dropout rates.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the link in the title of this post.

Why smoking makes you more stressed not less

People who smoke often say that it helps them to deal with stress but new research by scientists from Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry suggests that, if anything, it makes the problem worse. The scientists studied 469 people who were trying to give up after being hospitalized for heart disease. After a year 41% of them had managed to give up smoking and these people experienced a 20% reduction in their stress levels compared to those who went back to smoking whose stress levels remained unchanged. The relationship between not smoking and less stress remained even after taking into account patients' age and education, how heavily they had smoked before giving up and how high their stress levels had been at the start of the study. Before giving up 85% of the participants said that smoking helped them to deal with stress to some extent but the researchers thought that this was because smoking helped people to deal with the pangs of nicotine withdrawal; once people had managed to give up smoking they no longer felt these pangs and their overall levels of stress fell.

You can find out more about this research at

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE65F3MW20100616?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Smoking and mental health

Second-hand smoking has been associated with a range of physical health problems and new research now suggests that it might be linked to an increased risk of psychological problems too. Researchers from University College London studied 8,155 people in Scotland who took part in the Scottish Health Survey in 1998 or 2003. They filled out a questionnaire about their mental health problems and admissions to psychiatric hospitals were checked over six years of follow-up. Exposure to second-hand smoke was assessed by measuring levels of cotinine - a by-product of the breakdown of nicotine - in saliva. Non-smokers who had a high level of exposure to second-hand smoke had higher odds of mental distress. Smokers and non-smokers with a high level of of exposure to second-hand smoke were both more likely to be hospitalized for depression, schizophrenia, delirium or other psychiatric conditions.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100607165625.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Smoking and depression go together like bacon and eggs

In the U.S. the National Center for Health Statistics has been analyzing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to look into the links between depression and smoking. They found that 43% of adult smokers aged 20 and over have depression. Among men aged between 40 and 54 55% of smokers are depressed and among women aged 20 to 39 about 50% of smokers were. Overall only 7% of adults aged 20 and over had depression. The more depressed people were the more likely they were to smoke. Adults with depression were more likely to smoke over a pack a day and to smoke their first cigarette within five minutes of waking up.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/04/14/many-smokers-suffer-from-depression/12846.html