Smoking dependence and common psychiatric disorders in medical students: Cross-sectional study

Objectives: exploring the variable effect of the degree of smoking dependence on the level of anxiety and depression symptoms among medical students.methodology: this cross-section study, conducted in the department of pharmacology, college of medicine, al-mustansiriya university, baghdad-iraq from december 2010 to may 2011, involving 300 medical students selected by cluster random sampling techniques. those students completed the hamilton rating scale for anxiety, zung self-report depression scale and the fagerstrom test for nicotine dependence with a value of six or more regarded as heavy smokers, and a value less than six considered as light smokers.results: the response rate was 89%, heavy smokers were significantly older and start smoking at an earlier age than non- and light smokers (p=0.001). heavy smokers associated with high chance of depressive symptoms in comparison with non-smokers (or=4.8, c.i.=1.752-13.677) and light smokers (or=4.2, c.i.=1.042-17.161). regarding anxiety symptoms, heavy smokers demonstrate high chance of anxiety symptoms in comparison with non-smokers (or=5.2, c.i.=1.826-15.176), and light smokers (or=4.5, c.i.=1.318-15.526).conclusions: heavy smokers differ from non- and light smokers, associated with high risk of anxiety and depression, therefore heavy smoking tends to deteriorate rather than ameliorate these symptoms