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Study: Smoking May Increase Risk of Schizophrenia 研究发现吸烟会增加患精神分裂症的风险
Studies have linked cigarette smoking to a number of health problems, including lung cancer and heart disease. Now, a new study shows a possible link between smoking and the disabling brain disorder1 schizophrenia. People with schizophrenia hear and see things that are not real. Patients also may believe that others want to harm them.
Cigarette smoking is very common among people with mental disorders2, especially those with schizophrenia.
Sameer Jauhar noted3 the connection.
“As a psychiatrist4 it’s always something you think about, because you always see patients with psychotic illnesses smoking. People generally put it down to self-medication.”
Sameer Jauhar is a psychiatric researcher at King’s College London. He spoke5 recently during a podcast to the online journal, The Lancet Psychiatry6. The journal published his study, which noted the relationship between cigarette smoking and schizophrenia.
Dr. Jauhar and a King’s College team found that smoking may in some way increase the risk of developing schizophrenia. They examined 61 studies from researchers around the world. They found that smoking is three times more common among schizophrenic patients coming to treatment for the first time compared to the general population.
James MacCabe was one of the writers of a report on the study. He is a doctor of psychiatric research at King’s College. He says he was not surprised to find that more than half of people with schizophrenia smoke. He says the finding raises questions about the belief that people who have mental disorders smoke to ease their symptoms.
“If the explanation was self-medication, you would expect that when people started to develop schizophrenia they would be no more likely to smoke than anybody else, and the smoking would then develop in response to the symptoms.”
The study found that those who developed schizophrenia began smoking at a younger age than other smokers7, before their mental problems appeared.
There is also a suggestion about the drug nicotine8, but not the findings to support it. Nicotine is found in tobacco products. The researchers suspect nicotine may help fuel production of the brain chemical dopamine. This chemical affects the parts of the brain that control how a person reacts to praise and pleasure. Increased levels of dopamine have been seen in people with mental illness. Medicines used to treat schizophrenia work to reduce dopamine activity in a patient’s brain.
James MacCabe says there is not enough evidence yet to confirm the link between cigarette smoking and the development of schizophrenia. But when the link is confirmed, he says, people who have a family history of the illness might be advised not to smoke.
“There are many reasons why we should try to reduce rates of smoking in the population for physical health reasons. But this suggests that possibly doing so would also actually benefit people’s mental health.”
The researchers are calling for more studies on the possible link between smoking and nicotine dependency in the development of psychotic disorders.
Words in This Story
psychiatrist – n. a doctor who treats mental or emotional disorders
psychotic – adj. having or relating to a very serious mental disorder
self-medication – n. the act of using a particular medicine or engaging in a certain kind of behavior that is not ordered by a doctor and which may not be physically9 or mentally healthy
podcast – n. an audio program that is loaded onto a website and which can be downloaded onto a listening device
symptom – n. a change in the body or mind which shows that a disease is present; a sign
response – n. a reaction to something else
1 disorder | |
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调 | |
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2 disorders | |
n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 );凌乱;骚乱;(身心、机能)失调 | |
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3 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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4 psychiatrist | |
n.精神病专家;精神病医师 | |
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5 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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6 psychiatry | |
n.精神病学,精神病疗法 | |
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7 smokers | |
吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 ) | |
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8 nicotine | |
n.(化)尼古丁,烟碱 | |
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9 physically | |
adj.物质上,体格上,身体上,按自然规律 | |
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