The Effect of Cigarette Smoking on Severity of Depressive Symptoms in Adults 18 Years or Older with Type II Diabetes Mellitus
Abstract
Introduction and Objective. Approximately 21 million adults (8.4% of the United States population) have experienced at least one major depressive episode in their lifetime. It is well-known that cigarette smoking is associated with numerous chronic health conditions, including depression. However, current literature assessing this relationship in the United States is limited due to few existing studies and variability in depression screening tools. The objective of this study was to determine if an association exists between cigarette smoking and severity of depressive symptoms in participants with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). Methods. An analytical, cross-sectional analysis of the 2019 Center for Disease Control (CDC) National Health Information Survey (NHIS) data was performed (n = 2,693). People with missing information were excluded. The main exposure variable was cigarette smoking and the main outcome variable was severity of depressive symptoms. The covariates included in this study were age, sex, race/ethnicity, body mass index, diabetic comorbidities, and other psychiatric diagnoses. Unadjusted and adjusted multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to calculate Relative Risk Ratios (RRR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results. The prevalence of those experiencing depressive symptoms in our study population was 28.7% (n = 774). There was a statistically significant association between current smokers and mild depressive symptoms (RRR 2.43; 95% CI 1.46-4.04. However, the adjusted RRR were not statistically significant for moderate depressive symptoms (RRR 1.70; 95% CI 0.85 - 3.41) or severe depressive symptoms (RRR 2.21; 95% CI 0.99 - 4.96). There was a statistically significant association between former smokers and severe depressive symptoms (RRR 2.35; 95% CI 1.17 - 3.73), but not for mild depressive symptoms (RRR 1.24; 95% CI 0.90 - 1.71) nor moderate depressive symptoms (RRR 1.31 95% CI 0.79 - 2.18). Conclusions-Implications. This study implicates the need for more robust depression screening in the United States, especially in individuals with T2DM who may smoke cigarettes. Future studies should be conducted to better assess causality and directionality of the association between smoking and severity of depressive symptoms in patients with T2DM.
Keywords
Type II Diabetes Mellitus, Depression, Cigarette Smoking
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
The Effect of Cigarette Smoking on Severity of Depressive Symptoms in Adults 18 Years or Older with Type II Diabetes Mellitus
Introduction and Objective. Approximately 21 million adults (8.4% of the United States population) have experienced at least one major depressive episode in their lifetime. It is well-known that cigarette smoking is associated with numerous chronic health conditions, including depression. However, current literature assessing this relationship in the United States is limited due to few existing studies and variability in depression screening tools. The objective of this study was to determine if an association exists between cigarette smoking and severity of depressive symptoms in participants with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). Methods. An analytical, cross-sectional analysis of the 2019 Center for Disease Control (CDC) National Health Information Survey (NHIS) data was performed (n = 2,693). People with missing information were excluded. The main exposure variable was cigarette smoking and the main outcome variable was severity of depressive symptoms. The covariates included in this study were age, sex, race/ethnicity, body mass index, diabetic comorbidities, and other psychiatric diagnoses. Unadjusted and adjusted multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to calculate Relative Risk Ratios (RRR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results. The prevalence of those experiencing depressive symptoms in our study population was 28.7% (n = 774). There was a statistically significant association between current smokers and mild depressive symptoms (RRR 2.43; 95% CI 1.46-4.04. However, the adjusted RRR were not statistically significant for moderate depressive symptoms (RRR 1.70; 95% CI 0.85 - 3.41) or severe depressive symptoms (RRR 2.21; 95% CI 0.99 - 4.96). There was a statistically significant association between former smokers and severe depressive symptoms (RRR 2.35; 95% CI 1.17 - 3.73), but not for mild depressive symptoms (RRR 1.24; 95% CI 0.90 - 1.71) nor moderate depressive symptoms (RRR 1.31 95% CI 0.79 - 2.18). Conclusions-Implications. This study implicates the need for more robust depression screening in the United States, especially in individuals with T2DM who may smoke cigarettes. Future studies should be conducted to better assess causality and directionality of the association between smoking and severity of depressive symptoms in patients with T2DM.