[Nicotine dependence and psychiatric comorbidity among university students]

The relationship between psychiatric disorders and nicotine use has been studied in recent years. In this study, the comorbidity between psychiatric disorders and nicotine dependence (ND) and nicotine abstinence (NA) was evaluated in a randomly selected group of university students.

We used the 12-month version of CIDI 2.1 (Composite International Diagnostic Interview) for the interviews of a total of 323 students (M/F: 168/155), who were randomly selected among and represented all students in Selçuk University. The mean age of students was 20.9 (SD: 5.4, range: 16-34). ND, NA and other psychiatric disorders were diagnosed according to DSM-IV criteria.

One-year prevalence of ND and NA was 17% (n=55) and 4% (n=13), respectively among the 323 students interviewed. The prevalence of any psychiatric disorders other than ND and NA was 26.3% (n=85). Students who had psychiatric disorders had a higher relative risk than those who did not have psychiatric disorders (30.6% versus 12.2%, odds ratio: 3.2, 95% CI 1.7-5.8; p<0.001). ND was also observed more commonly in students who were diagnosed with any of these disorders than in those free of these disorders: alcohol dependence or abuse (72.7% versus 15.1%), any mood disorder (36.0% versus 15.4%) and any anxiety disorder (29.3% versus 13.9%).

This study suggests that ND in young adults is associated with a higher rate of psychiatric disorders.