The association Between Nicotine Dependence, Health-Related Quality of Life, and Depression among Adult Population: A cross sectional study

Introduction: The global economy is harmed because of the millions of fatalities caused by smoking each year. It can also have a direct impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in both physical and mental ways. The association between smoking and depression remains controversial. Aim of Work: To investigate the relationship between smoking, HRQoL, and depression among the adult population in Minia district.

Materials and Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in El-Minia district on 640 participants. A validated, structured self-administered Arabic questionnaire composed of four parts: socio-demographic, Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence, PHQ-9 depression scale and SF-12 for HRQoL was used.sample size was calculated at confidence level 95% and power of 80% using EPI INFO online calculator. Results: The highest percentage of respondents were males (91.9%), their mean age was 39.7 years with SD 13.3 years. There was a statistically significant higher percentage of depression (41.1%, 35.4% and 29.3%) among smokers, former smokers and never smoking group respectively. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between depression and nicotine dependence. In addition, nicotine dependence was in a significant negative correlation with both physical component score (PCS) and mental component score (MCS). According to multivariate regression analysis models, current smokers are more likely to experience depression. Conclusion and Recommendations: Nicotine dependence was negatively associated with HRQoL and positively associated with depression in current smokers. These findings can be used to devise interventions that will enhance the quality of life and depressive symptoms of current smokers, as indicated by the results of our study.