Second hand smoke is not only bad for your lungs and heart, but also affects your mental health too.
Second hand smoke is not only bad for your lungs and heart, but also affects your mental health too.
Exposure to secondhand smoke has been linked to various health problems like respiratory illnesses and heart trouble, but little is known about the association between exposure to secondhand smoke and mental health. To investigate this link, researchers studied 5,560 non-smoking and 2,595 smoking adults from Scotland with an average age of 50 and 45 years respectively. None of the participants had a history of mental illness. The participants answered questions about psychological distress and admissions to psychiatric hospitals, and were tracked for six years. Exposure to secondhand smoke among non-smokers was determined using saliva levels of cotinine, which is formed when nicotine is broken down in the body and is an established marker of nicotine exposure.
A total of 14.5 percent of participants reported psychological distress. It was found that the higher a person's secondhand smoke exposure, the greater their risk of psychological distress, while the risk was highest for people who were themselves smokers. People with high exposure to secondhand smoke (those with the highest cotinine levels) who didn't actually smoke themselves were 62 percent more likely to report psychological distress than those unexposed to secondhand smoke, while the risk for smokers was almost three times higher.
During the follow-up of almost six years, 41 people were admitted to psychiatric hospitals. The risk of hospitalization was three times higher for secondhand smokers compared to people not exposed to secondhand smoke, while it was almost four times higher for smokers. These effects were stronger for never-smokers than for ex-smokers. The fact that former smokers were able to quit could suggest they were intrinsically less vulnerable to the effects of nicotine.
These findings did not change even after the researchers accounted for factors like social status, alcohol intake and other factors that could influence both the risk of mental health problems and the likelihood of being exposed to secondhand smoke. Therefore, avoiding exposure to second hand smoke is essential to prevent psychological distress and risk of future psychiatric illness in healthy adults.
Exposure to secondhand smoke has been linked to various health problems like respiratory illnesses and heart trouble, but little is known about the association between exposure to secondhand smoke and mental health. To investigate this link, researchers studied 5,560 non-smoking and 2,595 smoking adults from Scotland with an average age of 50 and 45 years respectively. None of the participants had a history of mental illness. The participants answered questions about psychological distress and admissions to psychiatric hospitals, and were tracked for six years. Exposure to secondhand smoke among non-smokers was determined using saliva levels of cotinine, which is formed when nicotine is broken down in the body and is an established marker of nicotine exposure.
A total of 14.5 percent of participants reported psychological distress. It was found that the higher a person's secondhand smoke exposure, the greater their risk of psychological distress, while the risk was highest for people who were themselves smokers. People with high exposure to secondhand smoke (those with the highest cotinine levels) who didn't actually smoke themselves were 62 percent more likely to report psychological distress than those unexposed to secondhand smoke, while the risk for smokers was almost three times higher.
During the follow-up of almost six years, 41 people were admitted to psychiatric hospitals. The risk of hospitalization was three times higher for secondhand smokers compared to people not exposed to secondhand smoke, while it was almost four times higher for smokers. These effects were stronger for never-smokers than for ex-smokers. The fact that former smokers were able to quit could suggest they were intrinsically less vulnerable to the effects of nicotine.
These findings did not change even after the researchers accounted for factors like social status, alcohol intake and other factors that could influence both the risk of mental health problems and the likelihood of being exposed to secondhand smoke. Therefore, avoiding exposure to second hand smoke is essential to prevent psychological distress and risk of future psychiatric illness in healthy adults.
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