A study on tobacco use in women with major mental illnesses- schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and recurrent depression

About 14.2% of women in the general Indian population and 4.8% in Delhi use tobacco but its use among women with Major Mental Illness (MMI) in developing countries has not been adequately studied. We assessed tobacco use in women with MMI in a tertiary care psychiatry outpatient department through a cross-sectional, observational study, with sample size of at least n = 77 each for schizophrenia-SZ, bipolar disorder-BD and Recurrent Depressive Disorder-RDD. Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) both for smoke and smokeless tobacco were applied along with a subset of questions from Global Adult Tobacco Survey 2016. After diagnosis and referral by the treating psychiatrist and written informed consent, in our total sample of 321 women participants, lifetime use of tobacco was reported by 14.64%. Of all those who had ever used tobacco, 12.14% used it currently as well. As for diagnosis, those with BD (16.25%) used tobacco most frequently followed by SZ (14.18%) and RDD (6%). The FTND score was higher for schizophrenia indicating greater dependence. Tobacco use among women with MMI was thrice as common as women in general population of Delhi State, with smoke and smokeless tobacco use being equally prevalent, a grave cause for concern and intervention.