risk factors

Older news items (pre-2010) brought over from the old website

Second-hand smoke linked to cognitive impairment

Smoking is known to be a risk factor for cognitive impairment and dementia. Now a large study of some 4800 non-smoking adults over the age of 50 has revealed that exposure to second-hand smoke (measured by levels of a nicotine by-product in their saliva) is associated with an increased chance of developing cognitive impairment, including dementia.

The open-access article is available here.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-02/uoc-ssl021209.php

Midlife smokers may have worse memory than non-smokers

Data from the very large Whitehall II study has found that those who smoked were more likely to be in the lowest 20% for cognitive performance compared with those who had never smoked. Those who reported being ex-smokers at the beginning of the study were 30% less likely than smokers to have poor vocabulary and low verbal frequency scores, showing that recovery is likely if smoking is stopped. The study also found a higher risk of death as well as non-participation in cognitive tests among smokers, suggesting the association between smoking and cognition may have been under-estimated.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-06/jaaj-msm060508.php

Smokers are more likely to develop dementia

A seven-year study of some 7,000 people age 55 and older found that those who were current smokers at the time of the study were 50% more likely to develop dementia than people who had never smoked or past smokers. Smoking did not increase the risk for those with the Alzheimer’s gene apolipoprotein E4. Current smokers without the gene were nearly 70% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s than nonsmokers or past smokers without the gene.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-09/aaon-sam082807.php

Secondhand smoke increases risk of dementia

Preliminary findings from the Cardiovascular Health Study indicates that elderly people with high lifetime exposure to secondhand smoke (more than 30 years) were approximately 30% more likely to develop dementia than those with no lifetime secondhand smoke exposure. People with abnormalities of their carotid arteries and high lifetime exposure to secondhand smoke were nearly two-and-a-half times as likely to develop dementia as those with no secondhand smoke exposure and no indications of carotid artery disease.

Haight presented the findings at the American Academy of Neurology’s 59th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 28 – May 5, 2007.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-05/aaon-ssi041007.php

Smoking now found detrimental for Alzheimer’s

Previous animal studies had suggested that nicotine reduces the number of amyloid plaques; a new study, however, has found that chronic nicotine exposure increases neurofibrillary tangles.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-02/uoc--ctp020805.php

Smoking associated with working memory impairment in adolescents

A study of 41 adolescent daily smokers and 32 nonsmokers has revealed that adolescent smokers had impairments in accuracy of working memory performance. Male adolescents as a group begin smoking at an earlier age than female smokers and were significantly more impaired during tests of selective and divided attention. All of the adolescent smokers also showed further disruption of working memory when they stopped smoking.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-02/yu-scc020105.php

Smoking is bad for the brain

465 participants in the Scottish Mental Survey (11 year olds tested in 1947), approximately half of whom were smokers, were tested again when they were 64. Smokers performed significantly worse in five different cognitive tests than did both former smokers and those who had never smoked. This drop in cognitive function held when factors such as education, occupation and alcohol consumption were taken into account. A link between impaired lung function and cognitive ageing has long been suspected, though the mechanism is unclear.

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996765

Smoking and alcohol

Smoking may counteract benefit of moderate drinking on stroke risk

A 12-year study following the drinking and smoking habits of 22,524 people aged 39-79 has found that in non-smokers, people who consumed moderate amounts of alcohol were 37% less likely to develop stroke than non-drinkers. This association was not found among smokers. The finding may explain the inconsistency in previous studies into the relationship between light to moderate drinking and stroke.

The findings were presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto, April 10 - 17, 2010.

www.physorg.com/news190375547.html

Smoking interferes with recovery from alcohol-related brain damage

Another study has come out with more evidence that smoking makes it a lot harder for the brain to recover from the effects of long-term heavy drinking. The study looked specifically at changes in blood flow in the brain — blood flow is affected by alcohol use disorders. The study found that after 5 weeks of abstinence, alcohol-dependent individuals who didn’t smoke showed significantly improved blood flow, but those who smoked showed essentially no change. Moreover, the number of cigarettes smoked daily was correlated with how poorly the blood was flowing in the frontal lobe.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-05/ace-siw050509.php

Alzheimer's starts earlier for heavy drinkers, smokers

A study of nearly 1000 people diagnosed with possible or probable Alzheimer’s disease has found that those who were heavy drinkers developed Alzheimer’s 4.8 years earlier than those who were not, while heavy smokers developed the disease 2.3 years sooner than people who were not heavy smokers. Those with the APOE å4 gene developed the disease three years sooner than those without the gene variant. The risk factors are additive — those with all three risk factors developed the disease 8.5 years earlier than those with none of the risk factors.

The research was presented at the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting in Chicago, April 12 – April 19.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/aaon-ase040208.php

Nicotine may enhance attention and working memory in recovering alcoholics

New findings show that nicotine patches may enhance cognitive functioning among newly recovering alcoholics with a history of smoking. Nicotine (but not tobacco) has been shown to have a cognitive benefit, particularly on attention processes. The study also found that alcoholics who smoked were more sensitive to the drug dose of nicotine than were community controls who also smoked.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-11/ace-nme111907.php

Smoking interferes with brain's recovery from alcoholism

In another study indicating smoking worsens the effect of alcoholism on the brain, smoking was found to apparently interfere with the brain's ability to recover from the effects of chronic alcohol abuse.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-03/uoc--siw031506.php

Long-term smoking associated with dulled thinking and lower IQ

A long-term study involving 172 alcoholic and non-alcoholic men has found that long-term smoking impaired memory and reasoning skills and reduced IQ. The effect was most pronounced among those who had smoked for years. The effects of smoking were found among the non-alcoholics as well as the alcoholics, and among the alcoholics, the cognitive impact of long-term heavy smoking appeared to be greater than the impact of drinking.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-10/uomh-dsc101005.php

Smoking seems to increase brain damage in alcoholics

Another study has come out indicating that alcoholics who smoke are at greater risk of brain damage. The imaging study compared brain volume in recovered alcoholics and light drinkers. The study found no difference between smokers and non-smokers among the light drinkers, but among the alcoholics, the more severe the tobacco habit, the more brain volume had been lost.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-09/uoc--sst092805.php

Cigarette smoking exacerbates alcohol-induced brain damage

Heavy alcohol consumption is known to cause brain damage. A new imaging study has compared 24, one-week-abstinent alcoholics (14 smokers, 10 nonsmokers) in treatment with 26 light-drinking "controls" (7 smokers, 19 nonsmokers), and found that cigarette smoking can both exacerbate alcohol-induced damage as well as independently cause brain damage. The damage is most prominent in the frontal lobes (important in planning, decision-making, and multi-tasking among other functions). Independent of alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking also had adverse effects on brain regions involved in fine and gross motor functions and balance and coordination. Roughly 80% of alcohol-dependent individuals report smoking regularly.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-12/ace-cse120504.php

Benefits of nicotine

Nicotine patch may alleviate 'senior moments'

A small preliminary clinical trial has found that four weeks of nicotine skin patches helped decision-making and attention in people with age-associated memory impairment (the mildest form of cognitive impairment in seniors). Given the health risks of smoking, and health risks associated with nicotine patches, it is too early to recommend the use of nicotine to improve memory, however. Nicotine mimics the brain chemical acetylcholine, a nerve signal that plays a role in learning and memory.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-12/dumc-npm120303.php