Heavy smoking in midlife associated with dementia in later years

November, 2010

A very large long-running study has found smoking over two packs per day in middle age more than doubled the chances of developing dementia in later life.

Data from 21,123 people, surveyed between 1978 and 1985 when in their 50s and tracked for dementia from 1994 to 2008, has revealed that those who smoked more than two packs per day in middle age had more than twice the risk of developing dementia, both Alzheimer's and vascular dementia, compared to non-smokers.

A quarter of the participants (25.4%) were diagnosed with dementia during the 23 years follow-up, of whom a little over 20% were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and nearly 8% with vascular dementia.

Former smokers, or those who smoked less than half a pack per day, did not appear to be at increased risk. Associations between smoking and dementia did not vary by race or sex.

Smoking is a well-established risk factor for stroke, and is also known to contribute to oxidative stress and inflammation.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-heavy-midlife-dementia-years.html

Reference:

[1934] Rusanen, M., Kivipelto M., Quesenberry C. P., Zhou J., & Whitmer R. A.
(2010). Heavy Smoking in Midlife and Long-term Risk of Alzheimer Disease and Vascular Dementia.
Arch Intern Med. archinternmed.2010.393 - archinternmed.2010.393.

nicotine

Alzheimers

Related News

Learning Facebook may keep seniors sharp

Preliminary findings from a small study show that older adults (68-91), after learning to use Facebook, performed about 25% better on tasks designed to measure their ability to continuously monitor and to quickly add or delete the contents of their

Cognitive decline in old age related to poorer sleep

Recent research has suggested that sleep problems might be a risk factor in developing Alzheimer’s, and in mild cognitive impairment.

Early surgical menopause linked to faster cognitive decline

The issue of the effect of menopause on women’s cognition, and whether hormone therapy helps older women fight cognitive decline and dementia, has been a murky one. Increasing evidence suggests that the timing and type of therapy is critical.

Why learning gets harder as we get older

A new study adds more support to the idea that the increasing difficulty in learning new information and skills that most of us experience as we age is not down to any difficulty in acquiring new information, but rests on the interference from all the old information.

Hearing loss accelerates cognitive decline in older adults

I’ve written before about the gathering evidence that sensory impairment, visual impairment and hearing loss in particular, is a risk factor for age-related cognitive decline and dementia.

Intensive training helps seniors with long-term aphasia

Here’s an encouraging study for all those who think that, because of age or physical damage, they must resign themselves to whatever cognitive impairment or decline they have suffered.

Inhibitory control deficits common in those with MCI

Providing some support for the finding I recently reported — that problems with semantic knowledge in those with mild cognitive impairment (

Chewing ability linked to reduced dementia risk

Previous research has pointed to an association between not having teeth and a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia. One reason might have to do with inflammation — inflammation is a well-established risk factor, and at least one study has linked gum disease to a higher dementia risk.

Ginkgo biloba doesn’t prevent Alzheimer’s

Sad to say, another large study has given the thumbs down to ginkgo biloba preventing Alzheimer’s disease.

Popular cognitive test for Alzheimer’s insufficiently sensitive

New research suggests that reliance on the standard test Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale—Cognitive Behavior Section (ADAS-Cog) to measure cognitive changes in Alzheimer’s patients is a bad idea. The test is the most widely used measure of cognitive performance in clinical trials.

Pages