Abstract
Background: It has been reported that previous and current symptoms of depression influence during the smoking cessation process. Current and former smokers are 80 % more likely to have depressive symptoms compared with non-smokers. The subjects that have a moderate to severe depression also present a high degree of nicotine addiction and consume more than 21 cigarettes per day . In Mexico, little is known about the influence of intensive treatments for smoking cessation on depressive symptoms. This information would be useful to develop treatments for those conditions and increase abstinence rates and reduce relapse rate. Objective: Assess symptoms of depression, in the short and medium term, of smokers who received intensive intervention for smoking cessation. Instrument: Hamilton´s Depression Scale (HAM- D). Method: Experimental and Longitudinal study of a single group of 40 chronic smokers that were admitted to an intensive smoking cessation intervention (10 group sessions plus 4 individual therapy) with a follow-up at 3 months and 6 months after treatment ends. Results: Symptoms of depression decreased significantly in the participants of the intensive intervention and follow-ups compared with its baseline (p = 0.027). Men and female were different as men decrease significative compared with female (p=0.013). Conclusions: The intensive intervention suggested to be effective in the management of depressive symptoms in the process of quitting smoking alternative.
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