In an Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology analysis of nationwide health claims from Korea, men who smoked had an elevated risk of dementia. Researchers at Seoul National University College of Medicine found that compared with continual smokers, long-term quitters and never-smokers had 14% and 19% lower risks for dementia, respectively.
According to Neuroscience News, never-smokers had an 18% decreased risk of Alzheimer’s disease compared with continual smokers. Also, long-term quitters and never smokers had 32% and 29% decreased risks of vascular dementia compared with continual smokers.
The study included 46,140 men aged 60 years or older from a Korean health screening programme in 2002 to 2013.
“Smoking cessation was clearly linked with a reduced dementia risk in the long term, indicating that smokers should be encouraged to quit in order to benefit from this decreased risk,” said senior author Dr Sang Min Park of Seoul National University.
Effect of smoking cessation on the risk of dementia: a longitudinal study
Abstract
To determine the risk of developing dementia in relation to duration of smoking cessation by using a nationwide health claims database.
Methods
This cohort study included 46,140 men aged 60 years or older from Korean National Health Insurance System – National Health Screening Cohort, a population‐based national health screening program from 2002 to 2013.
The changes in smoking habit from a questionnaire during the first (2002 and 2003) and second (2004 and 2005) health examination periods, participants were divided into continual smokers, short‐term (less than 4 years) quitters, long‐term (4 years or more) quitters, and never smokers.
Participants were followed‐up for 8 years from January 1, 2006 for the development of overall dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and vascular dementia.
Results
Compared to continual smokers, long‐term quitters and never smokers had decreased risk of overall dementia (hazard ratio, HR 0.86 95% CI, confidence interval 0.75–0.99 and HR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.71–0.91, respectively). Never smokers had decreased risk of Alzheimer’s disease (HR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.70–0.96) compared to continual smokers. Finally, both long‐term quitters (HR: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.48–0.96) and never smokers (HR: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.54–0.95) had decreased risk of vascular dementia compared to continual smokers.
Interpretation
Smoking was associated with increased risk of dementia. Smokers who quit for a prolonged period of time may benefit from reduced risk of dementia. Therefore, smokers should be encouraged to quit in order to reduce the risk of developing dementia, especially in the elderly population who are already at risk.
Authors
Daein Choi, Seulggie Choi and Sang Min Park
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
[link url="https://neurosciencenews.com/smoking-dementia-9809/"]Article on Neuroscience News[/link]
[link url="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/acn3.633"]Article in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology [/link]