Psychiatric disorders and cigarette smoking among child and adolescent psychiatry inpatients

We surveyed 120 patients admitted to a child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit regarding their cigarette smoking history, reasons for smoking, patterns of use, and psychiatric comorbidity (chart review). We administered the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory and the modified Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire. Only six of 47 current smokers had a chart diagnosis of nicotine dependence. Logistic regression derived that the odds ratio for being a current smoker was: Caucasian race = 5.56, older age = 1.3, depressive disorders = 4.02, conduct disorder (CD) = 12.96, cannabis abuse/dependence = 24.6. Hence, cigarette smoking is highly prevalent but underdiagnosed in this population.