Smoking And Depression Linked

A recent study reveals what many say has long been known, that depressed people are more likely to smoke and to do so heavily.  According to a new government report, new sorts of programs which help target depression are needed in order to help people quit smoking.

Findings from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have now linked depression and smoking tendencies.  It is not that depression causes people to smoke nor vice versa, however there is a notable link between the two.  The association is particularly strong among adults over the age of twenty.

According to recent research only about seven percent of all adults in the United States from 2005 to 2008 had depression.  Despite this rather small size, about forty-three percent of those depressed individuals surveyed were smokers.  Contrarily only about 22 percent of people without depression were smokers.

Not only were depressed individuals more likely to smoke, but they also seemed to have much more difficulty giving up the habit.  According to the researchers, adults suffering from depression were less likely to give up smoking than those that were not classified as depressed. 

Both men and women had similar results, showing that depression was linked to smoking, but that this link did not vary by gender.  Nevertheless fifty percent of depressed women between the ages of 20 and 39 were smokers, compared to only twenty one percent of non-depressed females in this age group.

This link tended to be more prominent in men of an older age category.  For men between the ages of 40-54 who were depressed, fifty-five percent were smokers as compared to men without depression of whom only twenty-six percent were smokers.

The study also revealed that those men and women suffering from depression smoked more, with about twenty eight percent of them smoking more than a pack a day.  These individuals also tended to light up first thing in the morning. 

Scientists therefore suggest that studies like this show the need for quit smoking programs which also address depression.  Smoking cessation treatments that utilize cognitive-behavioural therapy are therefore a good place to start.  As these kinds of treatment are also helpful for depression, they can be used to treat both problems.  Antidepressant quit smoking prescription medication might also be useful for people dealing with depression and trying to dump the habit.