Successful stop smoking clinics can have a significant impact on the mental health of participants with depression, according to research in the Czech Republic.
Campaigners said the findings highlighted the benefits of these clinics, which are under threat from cuts to public health budgets.
The analysis, backed by researchers at King’s College, London, found that people who successfully achieved abstinence from tobacco showed improvements in mental health.
The study involved some 3,775 patients of whom nearly 30% reported mild to severe depression.
The researchers found that patients with depression were less successful at giving up nicotine than others – fewer than a third compared with 40% of those without depression.
But among those who achieved abstinence levels of depression declined, they report in the Annals of Behavioural Medicine.
One of the researchers, Dr Leonie Brose, of King’s College London, said: “Our study shows that stop smoking services can be very effective at supporting people with depression, and that increased visits greatly improve the success of quit attempts.
“The findings also suggest that giving up smoking may improve depressive symptoms, improving mental as well as physical health.
“While there’s been an overall fall in smoking rates in recent decades, there hasn’t been the same decline among people with mental health problems.
“We hope that this research will help boost mental health services and stop smoking services in the UK giving effective support and medication to those who need it most.”
Alison Cox, from Cancer Research UK, which backed the research, said: "This study draws attention to a vulnerable group who need more specialist support in their attempts to give up smoking.
“When it comes to tobacco-related illness, reducing the dramatic difference in the health of social groups is a really important issue.
“Because of this, it’s vital to protect funding for specialist stop smoking services, which remain the most effective route to quitting.”
Annals of Behavioural Medicine December 2016; doi:10.1007/s12160-016-9869-6 [abstract]
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