People who smoke are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease or dementia than nonsmokers or former smokers, according to a study in the current issue of “Neurology” magazine.
The study, conducted in the Netherlands, followed 7,000 people age 55 and older for an average of seven years.
During that time, 706 of the participants developed dementia. Smokers were 50 percent more likely to develop dementia than people who never smoked or quit before the study started.
A 2006 analysis of 19 similar studies reached the same conclusion, according to the March issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Those studies measured a combined 26,374 participants who were followed from two to 30 years.
Dr. Monique Breteler, the author of the recent study, said smoking increases the risk of disease in the brain’s blood vessels, increases oxidative stress which damages cells and can lead to hardened arteries.
Breteler said similar damage is seen in Alzheimer’s patients. She said oxidative stress can be eliminated by antioxidants, but “smokers have fewer antioxidants.”