A new study by Ohio State University researchers recently revealed that smokers are more likely to experience cognitive decline than non-smokers. The study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, aims to expand on previous research linking tobacco use to Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.
The researchers initially looked at the link between smoking and cognitive decline. They used a single-question self-assessment that asked people whether they had ever experienced progressive worsening or more frequent memory loss and/or confusion.
Furthermore, this study also wants to show that quitting smoking is not only beneficial for breathing and the cardiovascular system, but also for maintaining healthy nerves.
“The association we saw was most significant in the 45-59 age group, suggesting that quitting smoking at that stage in life may benefit cognitive health,” said senior author Jeffrey Wing (left), and assistant professor of epidemiology.
Wing also said that the benefits of quitting smoking were not only achieved by the younger group, but the older group who had quit earlier would also feel it.
“These findings could imply that time since quitting is important and could be related to cognitive outcomes,” said Rajczyk, a doctoral student at the Ohio State School of Public Health.
In addition, the researchers then compared measures of subjective cognitive decline (SCD) for current smokers, ex-smokers who had recently quit, and those who had quit smoking years before. The analysis included 136,018 people 45 years of age and older, and approximately 11% reported SCD.
The prevalence of SCD among smokers in this study was nearly 1.9 times that of never smokers. The prevalence among those who quit less than 10 years ago was 1.5 times that of non-smokers. Those who quit more than a decade prior to the survey had a slightly higher prevalence of SCD than never-smokers.
“It’s a simple assessment that can be easily done routinely, and at a younger age than usual we start to see cognitive decline that escalates to the level of a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or dementia,” Rajczyk said.
“This isn’t an intensive set of questions. It’s more of a personal reflection of your cognitive state to determine if you don’t feel as sharp as you used to,”
However, Wing notes that these self-reported experiences do not amount to a diagnosis, nor do they independently confirm that a person is experiencing a decline from the normal aging process.
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