President of the Spanish Society of Pathology double Supervisor (EDPS), Dr. Nestor Szerman defended Wednesday by inhaling nicotine electronic cigarette as "effective treatment" for these patients because they help to counteract the side effects of medications mental disorders, without the negative consequences of tobacco sniffing drugs.
Szerman made the remarks during the press conference of presentation of the XVI edition of the National Conference on dual diagnosis', first held in Valencia until next Saturday, with more than 700 participants and 56 symposia and sponsored by NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse).
The presentation also included the Psquiatría professor of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Valencia and coordinator, Julio Sanjuan, and experts from the University of Valencia and University Hospital Peset physician, Dr. Jose Vicente Martinez-Raga and Balance.
The dual disorders is the existence of an addiction and another mental disorder. In fact, it is a clinical fact that six of the ten patients with mental disorders will develop an addiction to the point that in the U.S. to buy two cigarettes acquires the mentally ill.
This greater increase in smoking among patients with mental disorders such as schizophrenia, it is because the tobacco increases your metabolism in patients and thus decrease the side effects of medications, has beneficial effects on cognitive as it helps them to increase concentration and memory, and other effects of disease Intrinsic such as anxiety, depression, hostility or anger. In fact, there is evidence that quitting smoking suddenly usually involves a worsening of mental illness.
However, patients with dual diagnosis have a life expectancy of between 20 and 25 years younger than the general non-smoker, then the result of his heavy smoking in conjunction with the effects of the disease the same population.
Among the few studies on the electronic cigarette is made in Sicily in 300 patients with schizophrenia who are not motivated to quit smoking, to which snuff has been replaced with electronic cigarette for 12 months and the results were a reduction in consumption does not imply a worsening of the disease progression.
In particular, 13% of smoking cigarettes with high doses of nicotine to quit smoking, 9% of those who smoked cigarettes with low-dose nicotine left the snuff compared to 4% of those who were given placebo. Therefore, Szerman argued that even if they do not get to quit entirely electronic cigarette has defended him if we can reduce the number of cigarettes they smoke, which typically ranges between 40 and 60 per day.
But Balance has found that "lack of regulation" and clinical studies poses many unanswered questions such as "uncertainty" about the effectiveness of smoking cessation and long-term adverse effects, the accuracy of the components pointing producer, who involves a "door" for new social segments, such as adolescents, or to counter all made in recent decades by anti-smoking campaigns. Therefore, he said that "there is still no scientific evidence to make a scientific recommendation."
