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Smoking in chronic psychiatric illness: is it worth it?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

C. McDonald*
Affiliation:
St John of God Hospital, Stillorgan Co., Dublin
N. Sheppard
Affiliation:
Waterford Regional Hospital, Waterford
*
Correspondence
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Abstract

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The prevalence of smoking is higher among chronic psychiatric patients than the general population, in spite of their lower income. The purpose of this study was to calculate the percentage of income these patients spend on smoking and to discuss the relationship between smoking and chronic psychiatric disorders, in particular schizophrenia. Ninety-six smokers were included in the study. The mean percentage expenditure on smoking was 294% of income. We discuss why chronic psychiatric patients smoke so much, why they should not, and what factors may encourage them to quit.

Type
Original Papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1996

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