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 MS (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 RRMS.