If you are a smoker the chances of you developing Alzheimer's disease are greater than if you weren't. The American Academy of Neurology has published this in their report of a study in its latest issue of its medical journal, Neurology, September 4.
In order to assess the association between smoking and the development of dementia, the Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, and several other Dutch government health organizations kept tabs on about 7,000 men and women, 55 years and above and 69.5 years on average, for seven years.
While 22.6 percent of the subjects were smokers at the start of the study and 41.6 percent of them had given up smoking, none of them suffered from dementia at the start of the study. In the course of the seven years, however, 706 of the study participants (10.3 percent of them) fell prey to dementia and over 75% of these contracted Alzheimer's disease.
Pursuant to adjustments for age and gender, the scientists observed that current smokers had a 47 percent higher risk of dementia and a 56 percent higher risk of Alzheimer's disease than those who did not smoke, while past-smokers did have a slightly increased risk (17%) of developing the ailment.
The researchers also noticed that the effect was most marked, up to 70%, in smokers who did not have the gene, APOE4 or apolipoprotein E4, which is considered being generally responsible for the development of Alzheimer's disease. The researchers conjectured that people with the gene may already be at such an increased risk that adding other risk factors might not make a difference to their chances. Smokers may be motivated to give up the habit when they learn that there only a very negligible risk for former smokers.
From Rotterdam's Erasmus Medical Center, Dr. Monique Breteler stressed, "Smoking increases the risk of cerebrovascular disease (stroke), which is also tied to dementia."
She continued, "Another mechanism could be through oxidative stress, which can damage cells in the blood vessels and lead to hardening of the arteries. Smokers experience greater oxidative stress than nonsmokers, and increased oxidative stress is also seen in Alzheimer's disease."
Oxidative stress occurs when a person's body has too many waste products, also known as radicals, produced by chemical reactions,.
Dr. Breteler said that "antioxidants in the diet can eliminate free radicals, and studies have shown that smokers have fewer antioxidants in their diets than nonsmokers."
Previously to this study, nineteen other studies had been carried out with regard to the same subject and had all been analyzed in 2006. The study came up with the same results of the analysis which was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology in March, this year.
The analysis authors, Drs. Kaarin J. Anstey, Agus Salim, Chwee von Sanden, and Richard O'Kearney had assessed the connection between smoking and Alzheimer's or dementia. They came to the conclusion that mature or older smokers have a greater risk of developing these diseases.
