The Connection Between Smoking and Mental Illness
While it’s common knowledge that smoking adversely affects physical health, a new study led by Doug Speed from the Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics at Aarhus University shows that it also increases the risk of mental illness, specifically depression and bipolar disorder.
The researchers used the UK Biobank, a vast database containing genetic and health-related data of over half a million people, to investigate the correlation between smoking and mental illness.
By searching for patterns, they aimed to clarify whether smoking causes mental disorders or if people smoke to alleviate the symptoms of a preexisting condition.
“Smoking does cause mental illness. Although it’s not the only cause, smoking increases the risk of being hospitalized with a mental illness by 250 percent,” Doug Speed states.
Notably, people in the data set started smoking, on average, at 17 but were not admitted for a mental disorder until after the age of 30, suggesting that smoking precedes mental illness.
Genetic Predisposition to Smoking
The study also found that genetics could explain about 43% of the risk of becoming a smoker.
People carrying specific genetic variants related to smoking who did not smoke were less likely to develop mental disorders than those who did smoke, indicating that “smoking-related genes” increase the risk of mental illness when combined with smoking behavior.
Biological Mechanisms Still Unclear
While the research strongly points to smoking as a cause of mental illness, the biological mechanisms are yet to be understood.
One theory suggests that nicotine inhibits the absorption of serotonin in the brain, leading to depression and anxiety over time.
The findings suggest that increasing the age limit for purchasing cigarettes could be an effective preventative measure, as the data indicates that people rarely start smoking after the age of 20.
The research is primarily based on UK data, but Doug Speed plans to extend the study to include data from Denmark and Finland to see if the correlations hold in other populations.
The study, published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, adds a significant layer to our understanding of the risks associated with smoking, emphasizing that its dangers extend far beyond physical health to include a significant risk of developing mental illnesses.
This revelation underscores the urgent need for public health measures to counter smoking, not just to prevent cancers and respiratory diseases but also to mitigate its underrecognized impact on mental health.
If you care about smoking, please read studies about smoking may increase heart disease risk by 200% and e-cigarette smoke may cause lung cancer and bladder disease.
For more information about brain health, please see recent studies about the cause of weight gain after smoking cessation, and results showing smoking may cause white scars on the brain.
The study was published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica.
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