Researchers have identified a link between alcohol consumption and smoking in adolescence and subsequent mood disorders. This work was carried out by scientists from the University of Helsinki.
A large-scale Finnish study sought to establish whether there are any links between mood disorders in adulthood and alcohol intake, as well as smoking and coffee consumption in adolescence. Mood pathologies include depression and bipolar disorder – severe mental disorders that significantly reduce the standard of living and are very dangerous for the patient. There was no connection between the addiction of adolescents to coffee and these disorders in adulthood.
But if teenagers were addicted to alcohol and smoked, then later in life they had an increased risk of depression, bipolar disorder and other similar mood problems. Similar connections have been identified in the course of scientific research before, but some of the findings were contradictory or limited due to the design of these scientific papers. In addition, in most cases, only the effect on significant depression was studied.
Now researchers have evaluated 7,660 people who were monitored during two stages. At the first they were about 15 and 16 years old, and the second was held about 10-15 years later. Of the 7,660 participants, 11.5% were found to have significant depression, 1.1% – bipolar disorder.
