Introduction: Many psychiatric facilities allow patients to smoke cigarettes even though this habit is especially harmful for mental patients.
Methods: We studied the untoward effects produced by the smoking ban in 40 consecutive inpatients admitted to a psychiatric ward of a general hospital.
Results: A total of 52.2 % out of 40 patients were smokers; the mean Fagerstrom score was 5.9. The most frequent diagnostic groups were: schizophrenia and delusional disorders; mood disorders; and personality disorders. There were only two untoward effects related with the smoking ban during the study period.
Conclusions: This study shows that the smoking ban can be successfully implemented in a general hospital psychiatric unit without causing unfavorable effects.