Middle-age smoking raises dementia risk
LOS ANGELES —
- Heavy smoking at middle age more than doubles the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia, according to one of the first long-term studies to examine the issue.
Smoking has a clear effect on the heart and lungs, but whether it also damages the brain has been controversial. The study, published yesterday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, overcomes some of the obstacles that have made it difficult to assess such a link. For example, some previous research that suggested smoking doesn’t cause dementia had mostly examined elderly people only for a short period of time.
To get a more complete look, researchers in Finland, Sweden and the health plan Kaiser Permanente’s Division of Research followed 21,123 middle-aged Kaiser members who participated in a survey between 1978 and 1985 and then were followed for an average of 23 years. After controlling for other factors that can contribute to dementia — such as education level, race, age, diabetes, heart disease and substance abuse — the study found a significant link with heavy smoking at middle age.
Compared with nonsmokers, people who smoked two packs a day or more had a 114 percent increased risk of dementia (more than double), while people who smoked one to two packs a day had a 44 percent increased risk. Those who smoked a half-pack to one pack a day had a 37 percent increased risk.
- Middle-age people who described themselves as former smokers did not appear to have an increased risk of later dementia.
Smoking might increase the risk of dementia by narrowing blood vessels in the brain, which leads to the well-established increased risk of stroke, said Rachel A. Whitmer, a research scientist at Kaiser Permanente. However, even people who smoked heavily at midlife and did not have any subsequent strokes had a higher risk for dementia, said Whitmer, the study’s principal investigator. “Stroke is certainly one of the pathways that smoking causes dementia, but it’s not the only pathway,” Whitmer said. Oxidative stress and inflammation caused by smoking also may damage the brain and lead to dementia, she said. The link between smoking and later dementia did not differ according to race, ethnicity or sex.
It’s true, I’ve done a few posts lately relating to Alzheimers Disease. Indulge me please – - I’m not trying to be morbid or a fear monger, heavens forbid. It comes from my own experience . I know full-well the difficulty or even pain of going through losing someone with this disease. I personally do everything in my power to guard against this taking over my life, seeing how my mother’s ended.
This article is a dramatic heads-up with regard to something we CAN have control over. Had I known about this when I started my blog in 2008, I would have screamed it out as a paramount reason to quit as I put my plan which had worked for me down on paper and put it out there. Yes I would have done that even tho I do not believe in guilting, intimidation, fear, force and so on – - all antithetical to successful quitting. It must be one’s own desire to quit for oneself. Once you see someone you truly love “loose SELF,” identity, memory, well, you can’t forget it. It is a force one needs to be armed sufficiently with knowledge and understanding in order to deal intelligently with it. The science that was demonstrated here is helpful, inspiring and progressive. Its a good thing. .Jan
