Everyone knows that cigarettes are harmful to health, but not everyone knows that smoking increases the risk of suicide. A study published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research showed a closer link between smoking and suicide risk than previously thought.
Researchers analyzed the number of suicides in countries where an aggressive policy against smoking was conducted from 1990 to 2004, and compared them with the statistics of suicides in countries with a more loyal attitude towards smokers, the LA Times newspaper writes.
In countries that introduced tobacco excise taxes and took measures to restrict smoking, lower adjusted suicide data was observed than where it was not done or was not done enough.
The introduction of restrictive measures significantly reduced the relative risk of suicide. Each excise dollar in fact gives a 10 percent reduction. Anti-tobacco measures are also playing a big role in this, ”says study lead author, epidemiologist Richard Grucha of the School of Medicine at the University of Washington in St. Louis (USA).
In countries with lower taxes on tobacco products and a more loyal attitude to smoking bans in public places, there were 6 percent more suicides than the national average.
This is not the first study documenting the relationship between smoking and suicide, but one of the first to indicate that factors such as smoking and nicotine may be specific.
Previously, scientists attributed the link between smoking and suicide to concomitant mental illness or substance abuse - mentally unbalanced people and drug addicts are more prone to smoking and suicide.
Significantly higher rates of smoking are observed in people suffering from mental disorders, alcohol and drug addiction, schizophrenia and other health problems. It is also possible that smoking not only is a marker of mental disorders, but also directly increases the risk of deviations, which, in turn, push people to suicide.
Scientists plan to continue exploring this connection.
The article is based on materials .
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