Psychological Features of Smokers.

BACKGROUND: Smoking tobacco is believed to be common among patients with psychiatric disorders like anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and affective disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the psychological symptoms of people without known psychiatric diseases who have freely decided to quit smoking.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was designed, and 124 healthy active-smokers (66 female) and 127 healthy non-smokers (61 female) were recruited. The symptom check list and Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) were used to assess psychological symptoms and nicotine addiction level. Smokers were divided into 3 groups: light smokers (0-9 cigarettes/d), moderate smokers (10-19 cigarettes/d), and heavy smokers (> 20 cigarettes/d).

RESULTS: When subjects were compared by daily levels of cigarette consumption, somatic findings were more prominent in the mild smoker group (1.61 ± 0.72 vs 0.77 ± 0.56, P < .001), while depression and hostility were similar across all groups. When subjects were compared by nicotine addiction ratio, the general symptom index of the group with high-grade nicotine addiction was found to be significantly higher than that of the control group (1.34 ± 0.72 vs 0.79 ± 0.49, P < .001). In addition, the high-grade nicotine addiction group had higher scores than the other groups for somatization, anxiety, depression, paranoid symptoms, hostility, and other symptoms.

CONCLUSION: This study examined the association between psychological symptoms and smokers' daily cigarette consumption and nicotine addiction levels. Psychiatric symptoms (ie, somatization, anxiety, depression, hostility, and paranoia) were observed more frequently in people with high-grade nicotine addiction (FTND score 7-10 points).