College students who smoke heavily may have more mental health problems.
Doctor Eric Heiligenstein, director of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Health Services and lead investigator on the study, which compared some 500 students who sought treatment at the university clinic. Analyses revealed heavy student smokers — who smoked more than 10 cigarettes a day — reported substantially poorer well-being, greater depression and anxiety, and more functional disability. Heiligenstein says it's important for mental health providers to ask students whether or not they smoke.