Smoked Nicotine Use Is Associated with Depressive Symptoms in Women with Multiple Sclerosis.

Smoking nicotine-related substances influences depressive symptoms in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (pwRRMS). It remains unknown whether sex impacts this relationship. Addressing this gap, in a consecutive sample of 281 pwRRMS, the mean age was 42.0 years (SD = 11.0), 74.7% were female, 19.9% smoked nicotine-related substances and the mean Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale depression sub-scale (HADS-D) score was 7.0 (SD = 4.0). Controlling for covariates, sex and smoked nicotine use interacted to influence HADS-D scores (p = 0.015). In females alone, smoked nicotine use predicted increased HADS-D scores (p = 0.002). The link between smoked nicotine use and depressive symptoms differs between males and females with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.