Government tobacco plan must tackle link between mental health and smoking, say psychiatrists

Smoking may increase the risk of developing schizophrenia by between 53% and 127% and of developing depression by 54% to 132%, researchers from the University of Bristol have said.1

In an evidence review presented at the Royal College of Psychiatrists International Congress 2022 in Edinburgh on 20 June, the research team highlighted studies that have suggested smoking could have a causal effect on both depression and schizophrenia, although they stressed that there is a “high degree of bidirectionality in these relationships.”

Co-author Marcus Munafo, professor of biological psychology at the University of …