Smoking among adults with serious psychological distress: Analysis of anonymized data from a national cross-sectional survey in Japan

Background: Smoking behavior among people with serious psychological distress (SPD) has not been fully investigated in Asia, although smoking has become a public health concern worldwide. Many Western population-based studies indicate that people with psychological distress are more likely to smoke. Methods: This study used a national representative data set from the 2010 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions of Japan. SPD was defined as scores ≥13 or greater on the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6). Multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to analyze the association between SPD and current smoking in Japanese adults. Results: In both men (n = 27,937) and women (n = 30,786), SPD was significantly associated with current smoking (adjusted odds ratios [95% confidence intervals]: 1.169 [1.030–1.328] for men and 1.677 [1.457–1.931] for women). Among men, SPD was significantly associated with current smoking only in people aged ≥50 years (1.519 [1.232–1.874]) and married (1.456 [1.228–1.728]). SPD was significantly associated with current smoking in women of all ages. SPD had a greater impact on current smoking for women aged 20–49 years than for those aged ≥50 years (1.832 [1.552–2.162] and 1.445 [1.099–1.900], respectively). Limitations: The cross-sectional design precludes assumptions about the direction of causality. In addition, smoking status was self-reported. Conclusions: SPD was significantly associated with current smoking in Japan and the association was much stronger for younger women. Clinical strategies are needed to reduce the prevalence of smoking among people with SPD to reduce excess mortality in this population.