Depressing news

Inhaling second-hand tobacco smoke increases the risk of extreme thoughts, including suicidal thoughts, according to a story in The Korea Herald citing a report published yesterday.

The joint study by Yoo Jun-hyun, professor at the Department of Family Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University, and Kim Wook of Gangneung Dong-in Medical Center, showed a correlation between people’s exposure to second-hand smoke and their psychological health.

Using the results of the fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted between 2010 and 2012, the team analyzed 6,043 men and women who had no history of smoking and determined that those who were exposed to second-hand smoke had self-destructive thoughts for a period of more than two consecutive weeks.

The analysis showed that, setting aside the effects of age, profession, earnings level, academic background and other variables that are known to have correlations with depression and suicidal thoughts, there was evidence that second-hand smoke caused damage to psychological well-being.

Among the people studied, 3,006 who were exposed to second-hand smoke had a 1.43 times higher risk of harboring suicidal thoughts than did the 3,037 who weren’t exposed to second-hand smoke.

The correlation between passive smoking and suicidal thoughts showed minor differences according to where the exposure took place and the affected person’s gender.

Men’s chances of suffering depression was increased by 2.49 times. Women who were exposed to second-hand smoke at home had an elevated risk of suicidal thoughts of 1.55 and an elevated risk of depression of 1.46.

The research was published in the April issue of the Family and Environment Research journal.