The nicotine dependence associated with alcohol use and other psychoactive substance

Abstract

To examine an association between nicotine dependence with alcohol, other psychoactive use, and depressive disorder. Smokers were recruited from Centro de Referência de Abordagem e Tratamento do Tabagismo at the Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade Estadual de Londrina (AHC/ UEL). All subjects were informed and gave then written consent for the research as approved by the Ethics Research Committee of Universidade Estadual de Londrina. The measures used were: structured questionnaire, alcohol, smoking, and psychoactive substance involvement screening test (ASSIST v 3.0), the Fagerström test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND), and the Diagnostic Interview for Research on Depressive disorder of the World Health Organization. Smokers presented the following socio-demographic characteristics: prevalence of the female sex and mean age of 47 years old with capacity for domestic activities and work. The mean age of onset of cigarette use for smokers was 16 years old. Fagerström’s test presented a medium punctuation of 6, so much for users of substances psicoativas, as for the ones that they don’t use them. Relationship between serious depression and the of psychoactive substances use was relevant for the research. This study evidenced an association among the use of the tobacco and other psychoactive substances, and depressive disorder. The health professional in smoking cessation intervention would be to identify subgroups of adult smokers, associated with depression, psychoactive substance use, and promote an intervention in both comorbidities and larger effectiveness of the smoking cessation.