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Posted on Apr 23, 2008, 8 p.m.
By Jeanelle Topping
Smokers are 41 per cent more likely to suffer from depression than non-smokers, according to a new study.
Smokers are 41 per cent more likely to suffer from depression than non-smokers, according to a new study.
Research conducted by scientists at the University of Navarra in collaboration with the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the Harvard School of Public Health found a direct correlation between tobacco use and the devlopment of depression.
Director of the project and chair professor of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Miguel Angel Martinez-Gonzalez, explained that over a six year period 190 smokers around the age of 42 who didn't present symptoms of depression at the beginning of the study were diagnosed with the illness, while 65 admitted to taking antidepressants.
He said that among the mechanisms resposnible for unveiling the link between smoking and depression was evidence that "genetic and/or environmental disposition, which will increase the probability that the tobacco habit is retained and that the user will suffer depression as an independent issue".
In addition, the findings indicated that those who had given up tobacco more than a decade previously had less risk of developing depression than non-smokers.
