Heavy smoking in midlife more than doubles the risk of being diagnosed with dementia in older age, according to research published online ahead of print in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Here is some information about dementia: • It is a condition with many causes in which memory and intellectual functioning decline • The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, a degenerative brain disease • Another cause is vascular dementia, which arises when the blood supply to the brain is limited by blocked or diseased blood vessels Researchers from the University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital collected health information on over 21000 individuals who completed a health survey between 1978 and 1985. The investigators then looked at the relationship between heavy smoking in midlife and likelihood of being diagnosed with dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, or vascular dementia between 1994 and 2008. During a follow-up period of about 23 years, one-quarter of the participants were given a diagnosis of dementia. After adjusting for several factors that affect dementia risk, including age and a history of heart disease or stroke, those who smoked at least two packs a day in midlife were more than twice as likely as non-smokers to be diagnosed with dementia. These heavy smokers were more than 2.5 times as likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and more than 2.7 times more likely to be diagnosed with vascular dementia than non-smokers. Today’s …
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