Link Between Teen Smoking and Anxiety Disorders

Scientists supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) have documented that chronic cigarette smoking during adolescence increases the likelihood that the teens will develop an anxiety disorder(s) in early adulthood, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder and agoraphobia.

For some time, it’s been known that there’s a strong connection between panic disorder and breathing problems in adults and so, given this association, the research team hypothesized that smoking might also relate to risk for panic disorder in children and adolescents through its effect on respiration. “Numerous studies have shown that smoking causes a number of diseases,” says NIDA Director Dr. Alan I. Leshner. “This study is important because it highlights how cigarette smoking may rapidly and negatively affect a teen’s emotional health—perhaps even before any of the widely known physical effects such as cancer may occur.” Dr. Daniel Pine, Chief of NIMH’s Section on Developmental and Affective Neuroscience adds: “These new data provide further evidence of commonalities between processes associated with anxiety in children and adults.”

The researchers interviewed 688 youths and their mothers from 1985 to 1986 and again from 1991 to 1993. They found that a startling 31% of those who had smoked 20 or more cigarettes per day during their teen years had developed anxiety disorders during early adulthood. Among those who smoked every day and had an anxiety disorder during adolescence, 42% began smoking prior to being diagnosed with an anxiety disorder while only 19% were diagnosed with anxiety disorders before they reported daily smoking.

The research team used a community-based sample that has served as the foundation of a longitudinal study that has been ongoing throughout the past 25 years. They were able to exclude and/or take into consideration a wide range of predisposing factors that might interfere with determining whether or not there was a link between a teen who smoked and a young adult who develops anxiety disorders, including: childhood temperament;
parents who smoke; parents’ level of education; psychopathology of parents; presence of alcohol and drug use, anxiety, and depression during adolescence.

The full text of the paper, “Association Between Cigarette Smoking and Anxiety Disorders During adolescence and Early Adulthood” (JAMA 2000; 284; 2348-2351) is available by calling the American Medical Association’s Science News Department at 312 464.5374.