This study is the largest to date examining the association between smoking cessation and change in mental health using propensity score matching.
“Most smokers want to quit but report continuing to smoke because they feel that smoking helps them cope with stress and offers other mental health benefits. [This] recent systematic review found strong and consistent evidence that the opposite was true. Smokers who quit showed marked improvements in mental health over time, while smokers who continued smoking showed little change during the same period. We concluded that the strongest explanation for this finding was that cessation caused the improvement in mental health.”
Taylor G, Girling A, McNeill A, et al. Does smoking cessation result in improved mental health? A comparison of regression modelling and propensity score matching. BMJ Open 2015;5:e008774. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2015-008774