Socio-demographic Correlates and Association between Level of Tobacco Intake and Severity of Depression.

Background and Aim: Despite decades of research on co-occurring smoking and depression, cessation rates remain consistently lower for depressed smokers than for smokers in the general population, highlighting the need for theory-driven models of smoking and depression. This paper provides a systematic review with a particular focus on psychological states that disproportionately motivate smoking in depression, and frame an incentive learning theory account of smoking-depression co-occurrence. The objective of the study was to estimate the sociodemographic correlates of tobacco consumption and its association with depression. Methodology: This is a cross sectional study. Over a period of one year around 120 depressed and tobacco dependent patients of age group 15 to 80 years were sampled from a tertiary care hospital in this study. Data on tobacco consumption and pattern was elicited from patients and household informants. Prevalence and sociodemographic profile of tobacco dependent depressed patients were used as outcome measures. Association between level of nicotine dependence and severity of depression was also assessed. Results: It was observed that such patients were more associated with the male gender (Females; N=5<Male; N=115), with middle aged group, illiterate, lower middle socio-economic status. Alcohol intake (dependence and harmful use) was more common than other substance intake. In addition to this, there were greater number of depressed patients who had been taking tobacco for more than 10 years. N=66; (55%). They were more likely to use chewable form than smoking alone. N=56(46.7%) The results of HAMD revealed that more nicotine dependence were associated with the severe depression. N=35; (31.7%) It was also found that more number of depressed patients were associated with the moderate/severe dependence on nicotine N=59(49.2%) which was statistically significant. (p=0.001) Tobacco consumption was higher in poor, less educated populations. Conclusion: The findings of the study highlight that higher nicotine dependence is associated with male smokers, low socio-economic status and low education and the moderate/severe level of depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]