Smoking and schizophrenia

Patients with schizophrenia smoke at a higher prevalence rate (80%) than the general population (30%). Those patients with schizophrenia who smoke have an earlier age of onset and may have more refractory psychopathology. Smoking improves sensory gating, sustained attention, and cognitive performance in patients with schizophrenia. Conventional antipsychotic drugs initially increase smoking. Switching to the atypical antipsychotic, clozapine, decreases smoking. Smoking decreases the bioavailability of many antipsychotic drugs.