Smoking and schizophrenia

It is likely that smoking behavior in schizophrenia may be a complex process, related to numerous interrelationships between the psychopathological, biochemical, and neuropharmacological aspects of smoking and of schizophrenia.

Abstract

Several studies have shown that patients with schizophrenia have an extremely high prevalence of smoking, almost 90%, compared to only 33% in the general population and 45-70% in patients with other psychiatric diagnoses. The reasons for the high prevalence of smoking among schizophrenics is unknown, but it is likely that smoking behavior in schizophrenia may be a complex process, related to numerous interrelationships between the psychopathological, biochemical, and neuropharmacological aspects of smoking and of schizophrenia.