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EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 3:00 PM, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 1998
Smoking Contributes to Mental Decline in Elderly Elderly
Smokers may lose their cognitive abilities, such as remembering, thinking or perceiving, more rapidly than elderly nonsmokers, according to a study released during the American Academy of NeurologyÃs 50th Anniversary Annual Meeting, April 25 - May 2, in Minneapolis, MN.
The study, based on four European population-based studies, included 9,223 non-demented people age 65 and older. Twenty-two percent were current smokers, 36 percent were former smokers, and 42 percent had never smoked. Participants were tested initially and approximately two years later on functions important in daily life, including short-term memory, time and place orientation, attention and calculation.
Study coordinator Lenore Launer, PhD, of Erasmus University Medical School in Rotterdam, Netherlands, said, "Cognitive decline is an irreversible degeneration of a range of mental functions and is highly prevalent in non-demented elderly. However, when comparing yearly cognitive change, we found current smokers had a significantly larger decline than people who stopped smoking and people who never smoked. We adjusted for important factors that might also affect cognitive function, such as age, education and history of stroke."
Cognitive decline for former smokers was slightly more rapid than for never smokers, although the difference was not statistically significant. Launer said, "Smoking may damage cerebral functioning by silent small strokes that are not clinically detected. If this is so, then a portion of the former smokers has similar cognitive damage as the current smokers. It is also possible that the cognitive test we use is not sensitive enough to pick up more subtle differences in cognition that might exist between former and never smokers.
"We already know of many health risks associated with smoking. These results suggest that smoking may increase the risk not only for clinical stroke, but also for silent cerebral disease that affects cognitive functioning."
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