Patterns of Smoking and Alcoholic Addiction in In-Patients with Schizophrenia: Medical and Sociological Study
Objective: the comorbidity of schizophrenia and tobacco and alcohol addiction modifies the clinical manifestations of both diseases, impairs compliance, increases the risk of aggressive behavior and contributes to the criminalization of patients. In order to study the characteristics of tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption by patients with schizophrenia, we conducted a medical and sociological study of the specified contingent.Patients and methods: 104 in-patients with diagnosis of schizophrenia admitted to psychiatric hospital were interviewed in February 2020. All patients participating in the study have reached the age of 18. The research program is presented by the “Questionnaire for the study of smoking and alcoholic behavior in patients with mental disorders”. Evaluation of smoking status included K. Fagerström’s test, A. Leonov’s test “Why do I smoke?” To determine the motivation to smoke, smoking index was calculated to determine the risk of developing COPD, and the AUDIT test was used to assess alcohol consumption. Statistical processing of the results of the questionnaire survey was using the SPSS-17 software. The prevalence of smoking among patients with schizophrenia is high (56.8%). Most (86.4%) of them are heavy (66.1%) and hardcore (20.3%) smokers. A high degree of dependence was revealed, the smoking experience averages 27.6 years, and the number of cigarettes smoked per day ranges from 10–20 and even up to 60 pieces. The patients are characterized by early onset of smoking (15.2 years) and the prevalence of high (47.5%) and medium (18.6%) degrees of nicotine addiction. The prevalence of alcohol consumption among patients with schizophrenia is very high (36.5%). Most (73.7%) patients consume alcohol either regularly (31.6%) or habitually (42.1%). Every fifth (21.2%) stopped drinking alcohol due to poor health.Conclusions: high prevalence of smoking and alcoholic addiction in patients with schizophrenia increases the medico–social significance of this comorbidity.