Prevalence of smoking among psychiatric outpatients

The prevalence of smoking among psychiatric outpatients (N = 277) was significantly higher than among either local or national population- based samples (N = 1,440 and 17,000) (52% versus 30% and 33%). The higher prevalence was not associated with the age, sex, marital status, socioeconomic status, alcohol use, coffee use, or institutionalization of the psychiatric patients. Smoking was especially prevalent among patients with schizophrenia (88%) or mania (70%) and among the more severely ill patients. Hypotheses about why psychiatric patients are more likely to smoke and why they do not have a high rate of smoking- induced illnesses are presented.