Smokers are usually at risk of cancer, stroke and other chronic diseases. However, the latest smoking study published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal suggests that researchers have found a link between smoking and the chances of psychosis development.
A recent smoking study helmed by a group of scientists from Kings College in London suggests that excessive dopamine through nicotine exposure can pose risks of developing serious mental illnesses among chain-smokers.
A team of scientists from Kings College in London found that chemicals in tobacco may help generate serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia. In the smoking study experiment, researchers investigated the data from 61 observational studies which were conducted around the world between 1980 and 2014. They found that 57 percent of the people diagnosed with psychosis were smokers, ABC News' The World Today has learned.
"While it is always hard to determine the direction of causality, our findings indicate that smoking should be taken seriously as a possible risk factor for developing psychosis, and not dismissed simply as a consequence of the illness," King's College London team member Dr. James MacCabe stated.
Preceding studies have already suggested that people with serious mental illnesses are more likely to smoke but was linked to non-causal factors such as obtaining relief from distress or self-medication. The recent research, however, identified that daily smoking along with genetic and environmental influences can also trigger mental illnesses, Irish Examiner reported.
In spite of the fact that the recent smoking study can be of significant use, scientists acknowledged the causality of these findings are hard and complicated to prove. However, they hypothesized the potential link between smoking and excess dopamine, a brain chemical that plays a role in transmitting nerve signals.
King's College Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience Professor Sir Robin Murray elucidated that excess dopamine is the most fitting biological explanation for psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia. He added the increasing release of dopamine through nicotine exposure can potentially cause psychosis development.
Aside from the smoking study, previous research has also connected the use of cannabis to psychosis. But according to Live Mint, there is much deliberation about whether it is causal or whether there may be shared genes that prompt people to both cannabis use and schizophrenia, a severe psychiatric disorder that typically starts in early adulthood with most common symptoms including disruptions in thinking and perception, and patients often have psychotic experiences.
Nonetheless, the latest smoking study still requires longer-term and further investigation about the connection among daily smoking, sporadic smoking, nicotine dependence and the development of psychotic disorders.
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