Loneliness and smoking linked

That's the finding of a study published today (15 June 2020) in Addiction.

The University of Bristol researchers found evidence for a causal link between prolonged experience of loneliness and smoking.

Although numerous studies have shown there is an association, it has been difficult to disentangle whether being lonely leads to substance abuse, or if substance abuse leads to loneliness.

By applying a novel research method that uses genetic and survey data from hundreds of thousands of people, the team found that loneliness appears to lead to an increased likelihood of smoking behaviour.

Co-lead author, Dr Robyn Wootton said: 'This method has never been applied to this question before and so the results are novel, but also tentative. We found evidence to suggest that loneliness leads to increased smoking, with people more likely to start smoking, to smoke more cigarettes, and to be less likely to quit.'