被动吸烟不仅有害身体健康，对心理健康的影响同样不可小觑。过多吸食二手烟，会造成被动吸烟者心理压抑，从而增加其未来罹患心理疾病的风险。该研究发表于最新一期《普通精神病学档案》。
在英国伦敦大学学院进行的该项研究中，唾液中的可丁尼作为生化标记物，被用来测定人的吸烟程度：唾液中可丁尼含量高于每升15微克的人，被认定为烟民。研究人员从1998年和2003年的苏格兰健康调查问卷中抽取了5560名非烟民和2689名没有精神病史烟民的样本数据，通过对照分析后发现，这些被调查对象中有14.5%的人存在明显的心理压抑症状。而数据分析表明，大量吸食二手烟的人（唾液中可丁尼含量在每升0.7到15微克之间），其产生过重心理压力的几率比不吸烟的人（唾液中可丁尼含量低于每升0.5微克者）高出50%。而主动吸烟者则更容易产生心理压力。因此，无论是主动吸烟者还是被动吸烟者，他们将来患有精神疾病的风险都会更高。
研究人员指出，过去的研究表明，烟草会引起动物的负面情绪，针对人类的研究也表明吸烟与精神抑郁之间存在着潜在的联系。最新的这项研究则通过明确的生化指标，表明了吸烟与心理健康之间存在着因果关系。对于那些非烟民来说，需要更加注意尽量避免吸食二手烟，以防被动吸烟对自己生理健康和心理健康的双重损害。
推荐原文出处：
Arch Gen Psychiatry. doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2010.76
Objectively Assessed Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Mental Health in Adults
Mark Hamer, PhD; Emmanuel Stamatakis, PhD; G. David Batty, PhD
Context Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure has been related to various somatic health outcomes, although very little is known about the association between SHS exposure and mental health.
Objective To assess the associations between mental health and SHS exposure, which was objectively measured using the salivary cotinine level as a circulating biochemical marker.
Design, Setting, and Participants In a cross-sectional and longitudinal study, a representative sample of 5560 nonsmoking adults (mean [SD] age, 49.8 [15.4] years; 45.5% men) and 2595 smokers (mean [SD] age, 44.8 [14.8] years; 50.2% men) without history of mental illness was drawn from the 1998 and 2003 Scottish Health Survey. A priori, study participants with cotinine values of 15.00 μg/L or higher (to convert to nanomoles per liter, multiply by 5.675) were assumed to be smokers and recategorized as such in all analyses.
Main Outcome Measures A score greater than 3 on the 12-item General Health Questionnaire was used as an indicator of psychological distress. Incident psychiatric hospital admissions over 6 years of follow-up were also recorded.
Results Psychological distress was apparent in 14.5% of the sample. In logistic regression analyses of the cross-sectional data, after adjustments for a range of covariates, high SHS exposure among nonsmokers (cotinine level <0.70 and &15.00 μg/L) was associated with higher odds of psychological distress (odds ratio = 1.49; 95% confidence interval, 1.13-1.97) in comparison with participants with cotinine levels below the limit of detection (0.05 μg/L). In prospective analyses, risk of a psychiatric hospital admission was related to high SHS exposure (multivariate adjusted hazard ratio = 2.84; 95% confidence interval, 1.07-7.59) and active smoking (multivariate adjusted hazard ratio = 3.74; 95% confidence interval, 1.55-8.98).
Conclusions Exposure to SHS is associated with psychological distress and risk of future psychiatric illness in healthy adults. These concordant findings using 2 different research designs emphasize the importance of reducing SHS exposure at a population level not only for physical health but also for mental health.
