[The prevalence of smoking in psychiatric patients. The effect of "institutionalization"]

The prevalence and other parameters concerning tobacco smoking were assessed in 100 outpatients with psychiatric disorders of axis I and II, according to DSM-III R criteria, and compared with those of 85 male psychiatric inpatients with forensic problems, recruited in a psychiatric hospital. The use of tobacco smoking was increased in psychiatric outpatients vs. the general pupulation and was very heightened in schizophrenic, as reported in earlier investigations; in the forensic sample both schizophrenic and non schizophrenic patients showed a very high prevalence. Therefore, the factor "institutionalization" does not modify the prevalence of tobacco smoking in schizophrenic--whose "smoking disposition" appears independent of the different social environments--while increasing the use in non schizophrenic patients. The positive correlation between tobacco smoking and schizophrenia is largely supported by these data and demands further investigation of its pathophysiologic mechanisms.