青少年吸烟增加患焦虑症的风险

纽约，纽约——在11月8日出版的《美国医学会杂志》上发表的一项纵向研究中，来自哥伦比亚长老会医院、纽约精神病学研究所和西奈山医学中心的杰弗里·约翰逊博士及其同事提供的证据表明，青少年吸烟可能导致青春期后期和成年早期的焦虑症。青少年吸烟与焦虑症的关联早已为人所知，但究竟是焦虑的青少年更容易对香烟上瘾，还是吸烟本身增加了患焦虑症的可能性，目前还不清楚。“以前的一些研究表明，焦虑的人可能比其他人更容易开始吸烟，”临床心理学助理教授约翰逊博士解释说，“我们的研究结果清楚地表明，青春期的焦虑障碍与成年早期开始吸烟的风险增加无关。”这项研究对年轻人有着重要的意义。与之前的研究结果一致，约翰逊博士观察到:“每天吸一包或更多香烟的青少年很可能难以戒烟。许多青少年时期大量吸烟的年轻人直到成年仍会继续吸烟。”而且，约翰逊博士指出，“成年后继续大量吸烟的人似乎仍有很高的风险患上某些类型的焦虑症。”因此，防止青少年对香烟上瘾可以促进他们成年后的身心健康。许多青少年开始吸烟是为了给自己树立一个“酷”、适应能力强、受欢迎的烟民形象。由于这种倾向，用吸烟者过度倾向于恐慌发作、焦虑或广场恐惧症的形象取代这一吸引人的形象可能会改变青少年对吸烟的想法。 In their paper, Dr. Johnson and colleagues suggest that letting teens know about this risk “may increase the effectiveness of interventions that are designed to persuade young people to stop smoking cigarettes and to avoid initiating cigarette use.” Interviewing mothers as well as the adolescents themselves, Dr. Johnson and colleagues tracked the development of smoking habits and anxiety disorders such as panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and agoraphobia among teens. When taking into account age, childhood temperament, depression, and the adolescent’s alcohol and drug use, as well as the education, smoking habits, and mental health of the youth’s parents, Dr. Johnson and colleagues found a strong association between smoking during adolescence and anxiety disorders during early adulthood, but not between adolescent anxiety disorders and cigarette smoking during early adulthood. The longitudinal study helps answer a controversy about what comes first, heavy smoking or anxiety disorders, suggesting that the former may contribute to the onset of the latter. Previous studies demonstrated an association between smoking and anxiety problems among adolescents and adults. Hypothesizing that anxious teens might be more likely to succumb to peer pressure or to seek out the calming effects of nicotine, some researchers found that anxious and depressed teens were more likely to start smoking. On the other hand, other researchers reported that cigarette smoking seemed to keep anxiety levels high, and that daily smoking was associated with panic attacks in young adults. Consistent with this evidence, the current study suggests that heavy cigarette smoking may contribute to the development of certain types of anxiety disorders. According to the study, how much a teen smokes seems to makes a difference. Says Dr. Johnson, “Our findings suggest that risk for onset of certain types of anxiety disorders during early adulthood tends to increase as the quantity and frequency of cigarette smoking during adolescence increases.” However, because most teens who smoke heavily continue to do so as adults, it is not yet certain whether smoking cessation can completely reverse the trend toward developing certain anxiety disorders in young adulthood. The study was supported by National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

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