Vitamin D - An Integral Key to Mental Health

Ontario physician Dr. Andrew Johnson has practiced palliative, in-hospital, and obstetric care in Brampton for close to 30 years. As a private practice physician, Dr. Andrew Johnson's practice in Brampton includes assisting patients with smoking-related ailments. In recent years, Canada has taken proactive steps to reduce the incidence of smoking in the country.

The Canadian government has gone about approaching reducing the incidence of smoking in the country by looking at overall patterns. This approach has attempted to look at disparities among populations to see which groups of people are more at risk for smoking. The particular factors the government studied were demographics (i.e. sex, race, and ethnicity), socioeconomic factors, family environment, other substance use, and mental health.

The study had mixed results but showed that the incidence of smoking was increased in one area. According to an article published in Tobacco Use Insights, half of the smokers in Canada suffered from mental health issues or had a substance abuse problem at some point in their lives. Other populations that were susceptible to smoking were low-income families and those without formal education. Men also were more likely to smoke than women.