Self-reported major depressive symptoms at baseline impact abstinence prognosis in smoking cessation program. A...

The association between major depressive symptoms and smoking has been extensively documented. However, previous studies report conflicting findings about the impact of depression on lapse of smoking cessation. We hypothesize that smokers with self-reported major depressive symptoms at baseline are at higher risk of a lapse.

One thousand and twenty participants aged, 18 years and over, were recruited in a smoking-cessation unit. All participants were assessed for their smoking status six times during one year of follow-up. Participants were classified as "euthymic", presenting "minor depressive symptomatology" or "major depressive symptomatology" according to their baseline score on the Hospitalization Anxiety and Depression Scale.

Using Cox's proportional hazard regression modeling, adjusted for potential confounding factors (nicotine dependence, number of cigarettes/day, previous cessation attempt, alcohol misuse, socio-demographic variables), it was shown that lapse is associated with major depressive symptoms (Hazard Ratio: HR=1.23 [1.02;1.47]; p=0.03).

Our results suggest the importance for clinicians to deal with depression and to discriminate minor from major depressive symptoms at preliminary smoking cessation consultations.