Secondhand Smoke Policy and the Risk of Depression

Abstract

Background Banning smoking in work and public settings leads to immediate reductions in disease burden. However, no previous studies have looked specifically at the impact smoking bans may have on depression. Methods The 2006 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) uses a cross-sectional design representative of the non-institutionalized civilian US population. Never smoker survey participants ≥18 years of age were selected from the BRFSS (n=41,904) with their self-report of depressive symptoms in the last 2 weeks, as assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire. Models with adjustment for survey design, sociodemographics, alcohol consumption, and work and home smoking policies were considered. Results Following covariate adjustment, the risk of major depression was significantly higher for those living where smoking was allowed anywhere in the home versus those living in homes with complete smoking bans and in those who indicated that smoking was permitted in their work areas versus those reporting complete workplace smoking bans. Conclusions Findings from the present analysis support policies that ban smoking in all workplace settings. Interventions designed to eliminate smoking in the home are also needed.

Combined effects of exposure to dim light at night and fine particulate matter on C3H/HeNHsd mice

“…FA + dLAN exposed mice also had less of a preference for sucrose-water compared to FA + LD exposed mice. These results correlate with previous literature 14,21,28,33-35 and suggest exposure to PM 2.5 and dLAN cause depressive-like behaviors in rodents and regulate mood.…”

Dose–response relations between second-hand smoke exposure and depressive symptoms among middle-aged women

“…None of the previous studies evaluated the effect of SHS exposure in public places, so we were unable to compare this result with others. The recently published study of US population also reported that there was no statistically significant association between smoking policies in public work areas and major depression (Bandiera et al, 2010b). Our results provided more detailed epidemiological evidence to suggest that SHS exposure in homes or in workplaces were associated with increased odds of depressive symptoms.…”

“…Studies have shown that banning smoking in work and public settings leads to immediate reductions in disease-specific symptoms and disease burden (Bartecchi et al, 2006;Ferrante et al, 2012), and participants living where smoking was allowed anywhere in the home or in work areas had more depressive symptoms compared with those reporting complete smoking bans (Bandiera et al, 2010b). In addition, these data suggest that interventions designed to eliminate smoking in the home are also needed.…”

Air pollution impairs cognition, provokes depressive-like behaviors and alters hippocampal cytokine expression and morphology

“…40,41 There is also a growing body of literature implicating second hand smoke exposure to depressive symptoms. 42,43 Furthermore, exposure to air pollution is directly associated with emergency department visits for suicide attempts. 44 One limitation of this study is that the effects of PM exposure were only evaluated in male mice.…”