Depression and smoking across 25 years of the Normative Aging Study

The majority of past findings indicate that smokers are more likely than non-smokers to report depressive symptoms and that depression may act as an impediment to smoking cessation. The aim of the present study is to examine the stability of the relationship between depressive symptoms and smoking status and to determine whether the presence of depressive symptoms predicts continued smoking.

Subjects were initially healthy men (n = 2208) from the Veterans Administration Normative Aging Study, an ongoing cohort of older men who have been re-assessed every 3-5 years for a period of 25 years. Depressive symptoms measures employed were the Cornell Medical Index, the MMPI-2 Content Depression Scale, and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale.

Depression scores were higher among continuing smokers compared to never and former smokers and those who quit after entering the study. None of the three depressive symptoms measures were associated with decreased likelihood of smoking cessation. The change in MMPI-2 depression scores observed in a 4-year follow-up was the same among those who quit and those who remained smokers.

Higher prevalence of depressive symptoms among male smokers is stable across time and is likely to contribute to higher morbidity and mortality among these smokers. However, presence of depressive symptoms did not have a significant impact on smoking cessation.