Frequency of Cigarette Smoking Among Psychiatric Inpatients Evaluated by the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence

• Published in: Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 579 - 582
• Main Authors: Tanriover, Ozlem, Karamustafalioglu, Nesrin, Tezvaran, Zehra, Kaplan, Asli, Tomruk, Nesrin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: mental illness; smoking; dependence; tobacco; psychiatric inpatients; Nicotine
• ISSN: 1513-7368; 2476-762X

Background: In this study our aim was to determine the rate of smoking in a sample of psychiatric in-patients with diagnoses of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression and to examine factors related to smoking status and the level of dependence in this population. Materials and Methods: A total of 160 people were included in this descriptive study. 80 were inpatients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression and 80 people without any psychiatric diagnoses were included as a control group. The participants were interviewed face-to face using a semi-structured questionnaire and Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence was used to define smoking habits. Results: The mean age of the participants was $37.24{\pm}12.19$ years ranging from 18 to 81 years, 54.4% of the participants were (n=87) female, and 45.6% cases (n=73) were male. 70% (n=56) of the patients and 55% of the control group were smoking and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.01). Total score of Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence in the patient group was statistically significantly higher than in the control group (p<0.01). Conclusions: In our sample, the frequency of cigarette smoking and nicotine dependence among psychiatric inpatients was high, posing a high risk for smoking related diseases including cancers; therefore there should be counseling on tobacco control and smoking cessation programming targeting this population.