MedPage Today (1/8, Gever) reports that according to research partly sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health published in the Jan. 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, “smoking rates among Americans with mental illnesses didn’t budge from 2004 to 2011, a period during which rates in the rest of the population fell 14%.” In fact, “data from the federal Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) found that, among respondents with mental illnesses, 25.3% reported current smoking in 2004-2005 (95% CI 24.2%-26.3%), versus 24.9% in 2010-2011 (95% CI 23.8%-26.0%, P=0.50) after adjustments for other predictors of smoking such as income and education.” Meanwhile, over that same time frame, “adjusted smoking rates in other MEPS respondents declined from 19.2% (95% CI 18.7%-19.7%) to 16.5% (95% CI 16.0%-17.0%, P<0.001),” the study found. Psychiatric News (1/8) also covers the story. Related Links:
— “Smoking Rates Still High Among the Mentally Ill, “John Gever, MedPage Today, January 7, 2014.