SCHIZOPHRENIA and smoking
Tobacco use is significantly associated with schizophrenia. However, it is not clear if smoking is associated with illness itself, treatment, or underlying vulnerability to the disease. Smoking is recognized as a common problem in schizophrenia, based on clinical observations and epidemiological studies. Smoking has been suggested to be a marker of more severe illness, as smokers tend to have an earlier age of onset, more previous hospitalizations, and require higher doses of neuroleptic medication than nonsmokers (Goff, Henderson, @ Amico, 1992). In addition, smokers with schizophrenia tend to smoke more heavily and extract more nicotine from each cigarette than normal smokers. The reason why individuals with schizophrenia are more inclined to smoke are not well understood, and sev
The majority of the participants self identified themselves as non-Hispanic whites, about four percent were African Americans two percent were Hispanic and just over one percent were Native American. The data found that schizophrenics had a higher rate of smoking than intended. The nicotine in the cigarettes stimulates dopamine release and has mood elevating and anxiolytic effects in normal smokers. The schizophrenic probands and their co-twins were compared to the controls using a method called fishers extract test. The participants were interviewed using the diagnostic interview schedule, supplemented with additional information about quantity and frequency of smoking. Most of these suggest that nicotine serves as a form of self-medication, either against the side effects of the antipsychotic medications or against other deficits associated with the illness. All the participants reported whether they ever smoked cigarettes daily. Schizophrenics reported headaches, shaky hands, and depression more than the comparison group when they tried to quit. The participants in terms of education levels were thirty-three percent high school graduates, thirty-eight percent college graduates, and ninety two percent were employed full time. The mean age of the participants was 44. The participants that were used for one study were Vietnam era twins. The results suggest that the frequently observed association between schizophrenia and smoking is related, in part to a family vulnerability to schizophrenia and not solely to the disease of schizophrenia itself. The interview assessed symptoms of nicotine dependence according to the criteria of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. eral possible explanations have been bought forth.
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