B53: Is There An Association Between Secondhand Smoke and The Development of Depression in US Adults

Somatic and psychological symptoms of depression can lead to decreased quality of life, lack of motivation, and in severe cases, suicidal ideation, or loss of life. Secondhand smoke can increase the risk of depression due to these chemical exposures, the development of chronic physical conditions, and the biological effects of nicotine. We are determining if there is an association between secondhand smoke exposure and the development of depression. A secondary analysis was performed on data obtained from the 2017-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. This data was taken from non-institutionalized child and adult populations in the United States. Exposure to SHS was based on the amount of serum cotinine, a primary metabolite in nicotine, in an individual’s blood. PHQ-9 tool was used to measure depression. A sample of 1800 participants was evaluated; those missing measurements on secondhand smoke, depression, and confounding variables were excluded. Statistical analyses were performed to determine the association, including chi-squared tests and binary logistic regression. Participants that were exposed to secondhand smoke had a 55.8% increased risk of developing depression compared to participants not exposed in the unadjusted model. When ratios are adjusted to include all confounders, we see decreased odds of depression when exposed to SHS but findings were ruled insignificant (p-value: 0.0617), meaning that this result could have been obtained by random chance. Certain confounding predictors were found to be significantly associated with depression in US adults, including race, family income, and type of occupation. While results are inconclusive within this analysis, we can assume that there is some type of connection between depression and exposure to secondhand smoke. Future research will need to be conducted to determine if the association is causal and if confounding predictors play a larger role.

Author(s): Sam Streberger, Public Health Major

Matt Taverns, Public Health Major

Advisor(s): Saruna Ghimire, Department of Sociology and Gerontology