14 DAY TRIAL // According to the conclusions of a new scientific research, it would appear that people who suffer from depression may find it harder to quit smoking if they try. The correlation held true for people who were not officially diagnosed with depression, but had the condition, too.
During the research, the experts behind the study were able to determine that an estimated 24 percent of the people who called the California Smokers’ Helpline suffered from major depression.
An additional 17 percent met the criteria for being diagnosed with mild depression, the experts write in the January issue of the esteemed American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Of the people who did call the Helpline, about half decided to try and quit the habit after talking with an expert. After two months of effort, the results depressed and healthy people had were compared.
The main conclusion of the research was that mildly depressed or non-depressed callers were a lot more likely to be able to quit the habit if they wanted to then people who were suffered from major depression – even if undiagnosed.
In this particular subgroup, experts say, one in five individuals managed to quit smoking, and remain nicotine-free, at the two-month mark. However, in the other two groups, one in three individuals managed to quit, a much better result (20 percent compared to 33 percent).
“Assessing for depression can predict if a smoker will quit successfully, but the assessment would be more valuable if it were linked to services,” explains University of California in San Diego (UCSD) professor Kiandra Hebert, PhD.
The expert, who is also the lead author of the new study, draws attention to the fact that more than 400,000 Americans call Helplines every single year, as they try to give up smoking.
“The results of this study are important. They show the scope of the problem and point to the need for protocols that can lead to better outcomes,” adds the co-director of the Oregon Health & Science University Smoking Cessation Center, Wendy Bjornson.
The scientist, who was not a part of the new research, says that helplines and other treatment programs are beginning to shed some light on the conditions that influence people's smoking habits, PsychCentral reports.
Despite numerous public health campaigns conducted in the US over the past few years, the number of smokers has not decreased as expected. Granted, less children pick up the habit, but about the same number of hardcore smokers remained as before.