Enliven: Pharmacovigilance and Drug Safety

Psychiatric disorders, like anxiety and depression, are risk factors for drug abuse and smoking behavior. The purpose of this survey was to determine the prevalence of smoking, depression and anxiety and their relationship among school age students. This cross-sectional survey was done on 1020 high school students (male and female) recruited randomly and DSM-IV interview was done by researchers. A psychiatry resident accompanied by 3 last year medical students interviewed with students and a questionnaire containing demographic , anxiety and depression questions was filled simultaneously. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS16. 50% of the students were female and the remainder male. 277 students (27.2%) were in the first year, 242 (23.7%) in the second year and 501 (49.1%) in the third year of high school. 55 students (5.4%) were smoker and used cigarette , water pipe (hobble bobble) and pipe.183 students (18%) had anxiety and stress symptoms (mild, moderate , sever). The 29 smoker students (2.84%) had anxiety. 144 students (14.1%) had depression (mild, moderate, sever) and 23 smoker students (2.25%) had depression symptoms. There was no significant correlation between smoking and anxiety and depression symptoms among school age students. As conclusion, we hypothesized that smoking may increase the tendency to depression and anxiety in high school students. Although the above results didn’t demonstrate any significant correlation between these three issues, school counselors and teachers need to be informed about the prevalence of problematic behaviors associated with smoking and it would be necessary to develop smoking prevention programs for adolescents, while taking the psychological factors such as depression and anxiety and school and family atmosphere into account.