Page 18 - JCBP-1-1

Journal of Clinical and

Basic Psychosomatics

REVİEW ARTICLE
A narrative review on the association between

smoking and schizophrenia symptoms

Kadir Uludag* and Min Zhao
Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, School of Medicine, China

Abstract

Smoking is commonly observed in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ). However,
the relationship between smoking and SCZ-related risk factors remains unclear. In
addition, whether smoking works as a self-treatment to alleviate SCZ symptoms
is unknown. Our study aimed to investigate the complex relationship between
smoking behavior and specific SCZ symptoms. We conducted a literature search on
PubMed using the keyword “smoking self-treatment and SCZ” and identified 191
studies. After screening for relevance, 47 studies were included in the study. Most
studies confirmed a correlation between smoking status and the severity of negative,
positive, and cognitive symptoms in SCZ. In addition, most studies investigated
the association between cognitive symptoms and SCZ with inconsistent findings.
We confirmed that smoking status is associated with symptom severity, including
cognitive, negative, extrapyramidal, and positive symptoms. These findings support
the theory of self-treatment and highlight the importance of addressing smoking
behavior in SCZ patients.

*Corresponding author: Keywords: Smoking; Symptom severity; Prevalence; Schizophrenia; Self-treatment
Kadir Uludag theory
(kadiruludag@mails.ucas.ac.cn)
Citation: Uludag K, Zhao M,
2023, A narrative review on the
association between smoking and 1. Introduction
schizophrenia symptoms. J Clin
Basic Psychosom, 1(1): 1014. Individuals with schizophrenia (SCZ) are known to have a higher prevalence of smoking
https://doi.org/10.36922/an.1014 than the general population . They smoke heavier and more frequently [2,3] (than the
[1]
Received: May 30, 2023 general population and patients with other psychiatric disorders ). Smoking is a risk
[4]
[5]
Accepted: July 11, 2023 factor for various health conditions, such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer . SCZ
and smoking are associated with increased morbidity, mortality, and heritable risks [6,7] .
Published Online: August 2, 2023 In addition, smoking can affect lipid levels and alter the blood levels of antipsychotic
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s). (AP) medications [8,9] . Furthermore, genetic studies have explored the relationship
This is an Open-Access article between smoking and SCZ symptoms . Therefore, addressing smoking behavior in
[10]
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution SCZ is crucial for improving physical and mental health outcomes.
License, permitting distribution,
[11]
and reproduction in any medium, Smoking might be a potential self-treatment for SCZ . For instance, this hypothesis
[12]
provided the original work is was raised to elucidate the relationship between smoking and tardive dyskinesia (TD) .
properly cited. A recent study observed a difference in negative symptom severity between SCZ patient
[13]
Publisher’s Note: AccScience groups with or without TD . Another study supports that reduced expression of
Publishing remains neutral with nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in SCZ is associated with negative symptoms . It
[14]
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional assumed nicotine might remit the negative symptom severity in SCZ, but the findings
affiliations. remain inconsistent [15-18] .
Volume 1 Issue 1 (2023) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcbp.1014