Treatment for Quitting Smoking Equally Effective for Those with Severe Mental Disorders
A new study has found that treatment for nicotine addiction is just as effective for people with severe mental illnesses as it is for the general population, and that offering such treatments does not seem to negatively affect mental health.
Published in the journal Addiction, the study’s background information notes that people with severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia have some of the worst physical health of any part of the population. They are also two to three times more likely to smoke, which contributes to their poor health and high death rates, which are three times that of the rest of the population.
In the study, the authors collected evidence on smoking cessation treatment among people with severe mental illnesses, and were able to determine the effectiveness of treatment, charting any predictable adverse effects. They found that in general, people responded well to medication and behavioral treatments, doubling their chance of quitting.
Professor Simon Gilbody from the University of York & Hull York Medical School, who co-authored the review, said that "schizophrenia is a devastating condition which causes people to die 25 years earlier than the rest of the population. This is a huge health inequality, and it is largely due to smoking-related illness rather than schizophrenia itself."
"What this review suggests is that quit-smoking treatments like nicotine replacement therapy may work just as well for people with disorders like schizophrenia. Smoking by those with SMI has largely been ignored and people with schizophrenia are not consistently offered treatment or services. We found evidence that smoking cessation treatments are effective and safe. We hope our research leads to better services for this neglected population,” added Dr. Lindsay Banham, who led the review.
"Despite huge expansion in smoking cessation services in recent years, people with severe mental illness have been left behind. The challenges for health services are to ensure people with schizophrenia are offered these treatments, and that services reflect the needs of this population,” Professor Gilbody concluded.
