Cigarette smoking in patients with schizophrenia in China: prospective, multicentre study

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the present study was to explore the rate of cigarette smoking and its sociodemographic and clinical characteristics in Chinese schizophrenia patients.

Methods: In a multicentre, randomized, controlled, longitudinal study, 374 clinically stable patients with schizophrenia were interviewed at entry using standardized assessment instruments, and followed up for 1–2 years.

Results: The rate of cigarette smoking was 13.9% in the whole sample, and 26.2% in men and 3.5% in women. On univariate analysis, male sex, unemployment, alcohol consumption, older age, older age at onset, longer duration of illness, more frequent admissions, more severe hostility–excitement at entry and less deterioration in hostility–excitement over the study period were significantly associated with cigarette smoking. On multivariate analysis, male sex, unemployment, alcohol consumption, more frequent admissions, less severe positive and negative symptoms at entry, smaller decline in negative symptoms and more deterioration in disorganized thoughts over the study period were independently associated with cigarette smoking.

Conclusion: The rate of cigarette smoking in Chinese schizophrenia patients is considerably lower than most figures reported in the Western literature.

Key words::

• China
• gender
• schizophrenia
• smoking

Acknowledgements

The present study was supported by grants from the 10th National Five-Year Plan Foundation of the Ministry of Science and Technology Program, People’s Republic of China (No. 2004BA720A22), the Research Foundation of Xian-Janssen Pharmaceutical (No. RIS-CN-MCCT-0201), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30800367), and the Beijing Nova Program of the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission (No. 2008B59). Xian-Janssen Pharmaceutical donated drug supplies and offered advice on the dosing strategies, but was otherwise not involved in the design, execution, data analysis, interpretation, or writing of the study. No investigator benefited from participating in the study.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.