Smoking and mental illness: a population study in South Australia

• Published in: Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry 2011-04, Vol.45 (4), p.325-331
• Main Authors: Bowden, Jacqueline A., Miller, Caroline L., Hiller, Janet E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Addiction; Addictive behaviors; Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Attitude to Health; Biological and medical sciences; Demography; Diagnosis, Dual (Psychiatry) - statistics & numerical data; Dual diagnosis; Female; Health aspects; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Mental Disorders - psychology; Mental illness; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Prevalence; Psychological aspects; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Quitline; Smoking; Smoking - epidemiology; Smoking Cessation - statistics & numerical data; South Australia; South Australia - epidemiology; Statistics; Surveys; Tobacco; Tobacco Smoke Pollution - prevention & control; Tobacco smoking; Tobacco Use Disorder - epidemiology
• ISSN: 0004-8674; 1440-1614
• DOI: 10.3109/00048674.2010.536904

Objective: To examine smoking prevalence and smoking behaviour among South Australians with a mental illness and compare findings to those with no mental illness. Method: Data were collected in three cross-sectional representative population surveys of South Australians aged ≥15 years from 2005 to 2007. Merged data yielded a total sample size of 8417. The main outcome measures were: smoking prevalence, measures of tobacco dependence, awareness of the health effects of active and passive smoking, smoke-free homes and cars, awareness of health warnings, and use of cessation aids by two measures of mental illness status. Results: Overall 26.4% of the population with a general mental illness and 51.2% of the population with a severe mental illness smoked, compared to 18.7% of the population without a mental illness. People with a mental illness, particularly severe mental illness displayed higher measures of tobacco dependence. Smokers with a severe mental illness were less likely to have smoke-free homes (OR = 0.29, 95%CI 0.16-0.55). Television was an effective medium to present the health effects of smoking to all groups. Those with a general mental illness were more likely than those with no mental illness to have asked a general practitioner for advice to help them quit in the past year (OR = 2.02, 95%CI 1.07-3.84). Conclusions: Whilst smokers with a mental illness are more dependent on their smoking; they are interested in quitting. There are a number of mainstream tobacco control strategies that could be further utilized (e.g. mass media and health professional referrals to the Quitline) to increase cessation among this disadvantaged group.