Depression, Anxiety, and Cigarette Smoking Among Patients with Tuberculosis.

Cross-sectional design, so it cannot show whether depression led to smoking, smoking affected mood, or both were driven by something else. Participants were recruited from 12 primary healthcare facilities in Gaborone, so results may not apply to other TB populations or settings. Smoking was self-reported with a single question, and recent quit attempts were not collected, so some people who had just stopped smoking may have been counted as non-smokers. Depression and anxiety were also self-reported; the questionnaires were translated into Setswana but not formally validated after translation. The sample was small and had very few female smokers, so the study may not have been able to detect a real association between anxiety and smoking. Age and education were not included in the main adjusted model because of the sample size and model fit.

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. Funding disclosed included Medical Research Council (UK) support for Dr. Siddiqi.

Do not conclude that depression causes smoking or that treating depression will help TB patients quit. This was a cross-sectional study of self-reported smoking and mood; it found an association, not a treatment effect.