Increased Risk of Major Depression with Early Age of Exposure to Cigarettes

Introduction: This study examined the association between age of initiation of cigarette use and increased risk of lifetime major depressive episode.Methods: This study utilized publicly available data from the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health involving a nationally representative sample of interviews of 55,160 randomly selected people aged >= 12 years. Analysis was conducted in 2016. Age of initiation of cigarette use was divided into four groups (<= 12 years, 13-14 years, 15-18 years, and >18 years). Eligible participants included adults aged >= 18 years who had ever smoked a cigarette and had non-missing data for all analytic variables (n = 23,906). Associations between lifetime major depressive episode and covariates were assessed using chi-square tests. Logistic regression was used to calculate crude ORs and AORs with 95% CIs.Results: About half of participants reported starting cigarette use when they were aged 15-18 years. Compared with the group that initiated cigarette use at age <= 12 years, all other age groups were from 25% to almost 50% less likely to report a lifetime major depressive episode.Conclusions: Early age of onset of cigarette use is associated with increased likelihood of experiencing a lifetime major depressive episode. Further research is needed to elucidate the mechanisms driving this association. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Journal of Preventive Medicine