Cigarette smoking and psychiatric morbidity in women

A random community survey of psychiatric morbidity in adult New Zealand women, the Otago Women's Health Survey, investigated the association of cigarette smoking with mental health. Of the women interviewed, just over one quarter (26.1%) smoked, with one third of these smokers consuming more than 20 cigarettes per day. Demographic factors associated with smoking were younger age, lower socio-economic status, poor education, caring for preschool children, dissatisfaction with female caring roles and financial strife. Psychiatric morbidity as measured by the short PSE was statistically associated with smoking. The unexpected finding reported here is a higher rate of recovery from their psychiatric morbidity amongst women who smoked. This result fits with previously reported data indicating that women use cigarette smoking to regulate mood and cope with the pressures of relentless child care in the context of strained financial resources. The profile of the woman who smokes differed substantially from that of the woman who drinks alcohol in a hazardous manner. Different preventive strategies are therefore required for these two risky behaviours.