Trial reportBMJ open2015
Does smoking cessation result in improved mental health? A comparison of regression modelling and propensity score matching.
Trial report in BMJ open, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Smoking cessation for improving mental health.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Smoking Cessation and Changes in Anxiety and Depression in Adults With and Without Psychiatric Disorders.JAMA network open · 2023Trial
- The relationship between smoking cessation and binge drinking, depression, and anxiety symptoms among smokers with serious mental illness.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2019Trial
- Patient-Level Determinants Outweigh Pharmacotherapy Choice in Smoking Cessation: Evidence from a Real-World Study in Turkey.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Using propensity score matching for sequential recruitment in multigroup cohort studies.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2026Article
- Nicotine dependence and incident psychiatric disorders: prospective evidence from US national study.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Article
- Association between tobacco smoke exposure and depression: the NHANES 2005-2018 and Mendelian randomization study.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2024Article
- A cross-sectional study of smoking and depression among US adults: NHANES (2005-2018).Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Association of alpha-fetoprotein and metastasis for small hepatocellular carcinoma: A propensity-matched analysis.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Modeling smoking-attributable mortality among adults with major depression in the United States.Preventive medicine · 2020Article
- Applying Causal Inference Methods in Psychiatric Epidemiology: A Review.JAMA psychiatry · 2020Review
- Reassessing the importance of 'lost pleasure' associated with smoking cessation: implications for social welfare and policy.Tobacco control · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesSmokers report that smoking is therapeutic; a recent meta-analysis suggests the contrary. However, the association in that review may be explained by group-membership bias and confounding. Propensity score matching (PSM) aims to produce causal estimates from observational data. We examined the association between cessation and change in mental health before and after PSM.
designA secondary analysis of prospective data from 5 placebo-controlled randomised trials for smoking reduction.
participantsAll participants were adult smokers and had smoked for at least 3 years. Participants were excluded if they were pregnant, breast feeding, under psychiatric care, deemed to be unfit by a general practitioner or part of a cessation programme. In total, 937 participants provided smoking data at both 6-month and 12-month follow-ups. Of these, 68 were confirmed as abstinent at both 6 and 12 months and 589 as continuous smokers at both follow-ups. PRIMARY OUTCOME: Change in mental health (36-item Short Form Survey (SF-36), scored 0-100) from baseline (while all participants were smokers) to 12-month follow-up (after cessation) was compared between quitters and continuing smokers with and without adjustment, and after PSM.
resultsBefore matching, quitters' mental health scores improved compared with continuing smokers', the mean difference and 95% CI was 5.5 (1.6 to 9.4). After adjustment, the difference was 4.5 (0.6 to 8.5), and after PSM, the difference was 3.4 (-2.2 to 8.9).
conclusionsImprovements in mental health after smoking cessation may be partly but not completely explained by group membership bias and confounding.
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Registered trials
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