Tobacco smoking and depressive symptoms in Chinese middle-aged and older adults: Handling missing values in panel data with multiple imputation

Abstract

IntroductionThe high co-occurrence of tobacco smoking and depression is a major public health concern during the novel coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic. However, no studies have dealt with missing values when assessing depression. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the effect of tobacco smoking on depressive symptoms using a multiple imputation technique.MethodsThis research was a longitudinal study using data from four waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study conducted between 2011 and 2018, and the final sample consisted of 74,381 observations across all four waves of data collection. The present study employed a multiple imputation technique to deal with missing values, and a fixed effects logistic regression model was used for the analysis.ResultsThe results of fixed effects logistic regression showed that heavy smokers had 20% higher odds of suffering from depressive symptoms than those who never smoked. Compared to those who never smoked, for short-term and moderate-term quitters, the odds of suffering from depressive symptoms increased by 30% and 22%, respectively. The magnitudes of the odds ratios for of the variables short-term quitters, moderate-term quitters, and long-term quitters decreased in absolute terms with increasing time-gaps since quitting. The sub-group analysis for men and women found that heavy male smokers, short-term and moderate-term male quitters had higher odds of suffering from depressive symptoms than those who never smoked. However, associations between smoking status and depressive symptoms were not significant for women.ConclusionsThe empirical findings suggested that among Chinese middle-aged and older adults, heavy smokers and short-term and moderate-term quitters have increased odds of suffering from depressive symptoms than those who never smoked. Moreover, former smokers reported that the probability of having depressive symptoms decreased with a longer duration since quitting. Nevertheless, the association between depressive symptoms and smoking among Chinese middle-aged and older adults is not straightforward and may vary according to gender. These results may have important implications that support the government in allocating more resources to smoking cessation programs to help middle-aged and older smokers, particularly in men.

Adiponectin. rs266729 Polymorphism and Nicotine Dependence Interaction: Genetic Investigations on the Anxiety Susceptibility

“…First, our results show that ND positively correlates with anxiety, consistent with previous reports [9,21,37,38]. Although previous studies remain mixed regarding the direction of the association between smoking and mental illness, more and more studies support the view that nicotine exposure is associated with the later onset of depression or anxiety [8,39]. Second, our results revealed that ADPN rs266729 CC homozygous carriers were more likely to suffer from anxiety among ND patients than G allele carriers.…”

The Effects of a Healthy Lifestyle on Depressive Symptoms in Older Chinese Adults: The Mediating Role of Psychological Resilience

“…These elements play a role in mood mediation by participating in the synthesis and metabolism of neurotransmitters, reducing inflammation, and stimulating the stress system [ 43 ]. Additionally, physical activity has been shown to effectively intervene and alleviate depressive symptoms through brain-derived neuromolecular mechanisms [ 44 ]. Notably, older adults who smoke and consume alcohol are more prone to depressive symptoms than non-smokers and non-drinkers [ 45 ].…”

Decomposition analysis of the difference in depressive symptoms between urban and rural employed people in China: Unpaid work plays an important role

“…The relationship between smoking and depression has been widely documented, such that depression is associated with subsequent smoking behavior and smoking exposure is associated with subsequent depression (An & Xiang, 2015; Wootton et al, 2020). One possible explanation is that smoking or chewing tobacco releases nicotine that affects the neural circuitry of individuals, which increases their susceptibility to depression (Du et al, 2022).…”