A review of the effects of nicotine on schizophrenia and antipsychotic medications.

OBJECTIVE

Research on the impact of nicotine on schizophrenia and antipsychotic medications was reviewed to determine ways to improve treatment planning for patients with schizophrenia who smoke and to evaluate smoking cessation programs for this population.

METHODS

All major research databases were searched. The review focuses on reports published since 1990.

RESULTS

Smoking improves processing of auditory stimuli (sensory gating) by patients with schizophrenia and may lessen negative symptoms by increasing dopamine in the nucleus accumbens and the prefrontal and frontal cortex. Use of traditional antipsychotics may result in patients' smoking more, whereas patients taking atypical antipsychotics may smoke less. Patients who smoke metabolize antipsychotics faster than nonsmoking patients. Smoking cessation programs for outpatients with schizophrenia report a success rate of about 12 percent after six months. No studies of cessation programs for chronically ill inpatients with schizophrenia have been published. Several hospitals have implemented smoking bans with equivocal results.

CONCLUSIONS

Nicotine affects both schizophrenia and antipsychotic medications. Neurobiological and psychosocial factors reinforce the high use of nicotine by patients with schizophrenia