Researchers discovered that middle-aged smokers were much more likely to suffer memory loss and disorientation than nonsmokers, whereas individuals who had just stopped smoking had the lowest risk of cognitive impairment.
The Ohio State University study is the first to use a single-question self-assessment to investigate the association between cigarette smoking and cognitive deterioration.
According to the study’s primary author, Jenna Rajczyk, whose work appears in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, the results add to the body of evidence linking cigarette smoking to AD and other kinds of dementia and may indicate a window of opportunity to spot warning symptoms of cognitive decline earlier in life.
It’s additional proof that avoiding tobacco is beneficial for your brain’s health, as well as your lungs and heart.
The research used information collected by the 2019 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System nationally.
This survey enabled the researchers to assess the levels of subjective cognitive decline (SCD) among current smokers, recent ex-smokers, and long-term non-smokers. About 11% of the 136,018 participants aged 45 and above included in the study reported SCD.
Smokers in the research had a prevalence of SCD about 1.9 times that of nonsmokers. Quitters in the last decade had a prevalence 1.5 times that of nonsmokers. Those who had stopped smoking more than ten years before the study showed a prevalence of SCD only slightly higher than that of nonsmokers.
Because many individuals lack access to more extensive screens or professionals, the potential uses for assessing SCD are considerably higher.
According to Wing, one should keep in mind that one’s subjective feelings and observations do not constitute a diagnosis or provide independent confirmation that a person is suffering deterioration beyond that expected from the aging process. However, he suggested that they may be an easy and inexpensive instrument to use more widely.
