Smokers in their middle years are more likely to show indications of cognitive impairment than non-smokers, according to new research. However, former smokers show less deterioration after giving up the habit.
Isaiah Atkinson smokes a cigarette in front of the San Francisco Centre on May 31, 2011 in San Francisco, California. Since 1987, the World Health Organization has celebrated "World No Tobacco Day" to raise awareness to the health risks associated with smoking tobacco. Smoking is the second biggest cause of death globally and is responsible for the death of one in ten adults worldwide.
Scientific Research
Recently published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, the study expands upon prior studies linking tobacco use to Alzheimer's disease and other kinds of dementia, as reported by Independent.
Researchers from Ohio State University recently looked at the link between smoking and cognitive decline. They had the participants answer a single question about whether or not they had experienced increased memory loss and confusion due to their smoking habits.
The data used in this study was gathered from the 2019 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.
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The Findings
Scientists noted that giving up smoking is beneficial not just for the lungs and heart but also for the brain.
Current smokers, recent ex-smokers, and past smokers who had stopped a long time ago were all evaluated on their subjective cognitive decline (SCD) for the research.
According to the study's primary author, Jenna Rajczyk, this is a straightforward examination that could easily be done consistently. It reveals cognitive impairments that warrant an Alzheimer's disease or dementia diagnosis at younger ages than is customary.
"It's not an intensive battery of questions. It's more a personal reflection of your cognitive status to determine if you're feeling like you're not as sharp as you once were," Rajczyk remarked.
Researchers believe that although these anecdotal reports do not constitute a medical diagnostic, nor do they establish independently that a person is suffering cognitive loss, they might be a low-cost, straightforward technique to explore deploying on a larger scale.
About 11% of the 136,018 participants aged 45 and above included in the study also reported having SCD.
Senior scientist Jeffrey Wing noted that the link they discovered was exceptionally substantial in the 45-59 age range, implying that quitting at that age may have positive effects on cognitive health.
However, researchers claim they did not find this difference in the study's oldest group, indicating that these individuals may get larger advantages if they stop smoking sooner.
Study participants who smoked cigarettes had approximately double the rate of SCD as non-smokers.
The rate was 1.5 times higher among ex-smokers who stopped during the last decade than those who never smoked.
Based on the research, those who stopped smoking more than a decade before the survey likewise had an SCD prevalence marginally higher than the non-smoking group.
These results suggest that the length of time after quitting smoking may be related to cognitive outcomes, as mentioned by Rajczyk.
