Smoking more than two packs of cigarettes a day during middle-age can double your risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia 20 years later, a new study reveals. Tobacco smoking causes millions of deaths each year, mostly to lung cancer and cardiovascular disease, but also other maladies like emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), even diabetes.
For the new study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers reviewed data on 21,123 members of a health plan who took part in a survey in their 50s and 60s.
Among the participants, 25%, 5,367 people, had been diagnosed with dementia during a 20 year follow-up, and of that 25%, 1,136 study participants were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Smokers fared the worst.
Compared to nonsmokers, individuals who smoked more than two packs a day had a 114% increased risk of dementia and a 157% higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers say it is hard to determine why smoking increases the risk of brain disorders because people often die before thorough analysis can be conducted.
Smoking has been humanity’s favorite bad habit for thousands of years, dating back as early as 5000 to 3000 BC where tobacco smoking was used as a part of religious ceremonies and rituals. But nowadays smoking is becoming less and less accepted, with states like New York and California banning smoking in bars.
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