Elderly people who smoke show a five-fold faster rate of age-related mental decline than people who never smoked. Among former smokers, mental decline occurred around twice as fast as in those who said they never smoked. Also, the more people smoked during their lifetimes, the quicker they appear to lose their mental faculties with age.
Elderly people who smoke show a five-fold faster rate of age-related mental decline than people who never smoked. It has been found that among former smokers, mental decline occurs around twice as fast as in those who say they have never smoked. Also, the more people smoke during their lifetime, the quicker they appear to lose their mental faculties with age.Previous research has shown that middle-aged smokers tend to show a faster rate of decline in old age, and may experience more cognitive changes than non-smokers even before they reach age 60.Researchers from the National Institute on Aging in Maryland, tested mental function in 9,209 people over the age of 65; they then retested them an average of 2 years later. All participants were free of dementia during the study period. The researchers measured participants' cognitive function using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), a short assessment tool used worldwide. The researchers found that never-smokers showed a decline in MMSE score of .03 points per year. Among current smokers, MMSE score dropped 0.16 points each year, while former smokers' scores fell by 0.06 points annually. And the more packs of cigarettes people smoked, the faster they tended to lose their mental functioning as they aged.
According to the researchers, the small change in MMSE score means that each individual smoker will not notice a difference in their mental functioning from year to year. But over time, smokers will be quicker than non-smokers to notice that their brains are not working the way they used to. Moreover, the fact that smokers as a whole experience a faster rate of cognitive decline with age shows that the influence of smoking on the brain has a significant impact on public health. Smoking affects mental functioning by causing problems in the blood vessels feeding the brain, leading to a loss of nutrients and the destruction of brain tissue. The findings also suggest that repeated exposure to second hand cigarette smoke may also cause changes to young, developing brains, and may also affect cognitive function in elderly non-smokers.
Neurology,
March 2004
March 2004
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