A study reveals that smoking cigarettes can lead to cognitive decline in a person’s forties.
A team from Ohio State University (OSU) studied 136,018 people over the age of 45 and discovered that 10 percent of middle-aged and older smokers suffered from memory loss and confusion. Overall, smokers were twice as likely as their colleagues to develop brain issues.
The deterioration can be halted by kicking a poor habit. Former smokers who quit more than ten years ago had a risk of brain disorders that was 50 percent higher than current smokers.
Cognitive difficulties are uncommon in middle-aged individuals, as the brain typically begins to lose function after age 65. However, smoking has been linked to a variety of serious health problems later in life, including Alzheimer’s disease and cancer. Also, women are more prone than men to have cognitive deterioration.
Long associated with an increased risk of cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s, the onset of these problems in middle-aged individuals is uncommon.
For their study, which was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, researchers asked over 140,000 individuals about their smoking habits and if they experienced memory loss during that time.
They discovered that eight percent of individuals who had never smoked had cognitive deterioration.
In contrast, 16% of current smokers reported suffering from cognitive difficulties and memory loss.
The majority of these smokers were thought too young to deal with these issues.
When surveyed, just under 10 percent of participants aged 45 to 49 indicated brain abnormalities, with researchers noting that practically all of these were smokers.
Similar rates of cognitive impairments were reported by survey respondents in their fifties.
In older age, however, many individuals develop Alzheimer’s disease and dementia for several reasons, and the disparities in cognitive decline between smokers and nonsmokers have lessened significantly.
Dr. Jeffrey Wing, a professor of epidemiology at OSU and the study’s principal author, concluded that quitting smoking between the ages of 45 and 59 may be advantageous for cognitive health.
However, quitting smoking can reverse some of the damage. Twelve percent of those who had quit smoking more than a decade earlier experienced cognitive difficulties.
This is still a 50 percent increase from the baseline group of non-smokers, a significant drop in comparison to the non-smoking group.
People who had quit smoking within the past ten years had a 13 percent higher risk of getting the illness than those who had quit smoking decades ago.
OSU Ph.D. student Jenna Rajczyk, who conducted the study, stated, ‘These findings could suggest that the length of time since smoking cessation matters and may be associated with cognitive outcomes.’
She explained, ‘This is a basic evaluation that could be easily performed consistently, and at earlier ages than we generally find cognitive impairments that lead to a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.’
“This is hardly a rigorous battery of questions. If you believe that you are not as bright as you once were, it is more a matter of self-reflection than of objective cognitive decline.
The study collected only self-reported instances of cognitive difficulties and did not collect data on Alzheimer’s or dementia clinical diagnosis.
It is uncommon for a doctor to inform a middle-aged someone that they have a debilitating ailment, as the onset of symptoms typically occurs decades before a patient may acquire a diagnosis.
In the United States, Alzheimer’s is the main cause of dementia. It affects around a 6.5million older Americans.
The number of Americans affected by the illness is predicted to double over the next two decades due to longer life expectancies.
There is no known cure for the condition, and there are few treatments available to reduce the disease’s course.
