November 11, 2024

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Smoking seriously hurts human brains

Smoking seriously hurts human brains



 

Smoking seriously hurts human brains! Research data from more than 130,000 people shows that smoking is associated with an 87% increase in the risk of subjective cognitive decline in middle-aged and elderly people

 

 

When it comes to the hazards of smoking, you may think of smoking addiction, lung cancer, second-hand smoke hazards, etc., but in fact the hazards of smoking are more than that: a new study shows that the cognitive function in charge of the brain may also be Can’t escape the invasion of smoking!

 

Recently, researchers from The Ohio State University in the United States published a new study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease [1]. Through the analysis of large sample data of more than 130,000 people, the researchers found that smoking status is related to middle-aged and elderly people. The risk of subjective cognitive decline (SCD) in current smokers is 1.87 times that of never-smokers!

 

Smoking seriously hurts human brains

 

With the increase of population aging, neurocognitive dysfunction associated with cognitive decline, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other diseases that seriously endanger the health of the elderly, have increased and brought heavy burdens to families and society. How to identify the decline of cognitive ability at an early stage and intervene early is particularly important.

 

Subjective cognitive decline (subjective cognitive decline, SCD) is a good indicator. SCD specifically refers to the individual’s subjective feeling that compared with his previous normal state, memory or cognitive function decline; but using objective standardized cognitive assessment The scale test was still in the normal range . There is already evidence that SCD is a preclinical manifestation in patients with AD and other related dementias [2]. If SCD can be prevented at an early stage, it can effectively prevent more serious neurocognitive dysfunction.

 

So, besides the irreversible aging itself, what factors can cause SCD?

 

It has been reported in the literature that smoking, high blood pressure, lack of exercise, obesity, diabetes, depression, hearing loss, etc. are all related to SCD [3], among which smoking not only affects lung function, but also increases the risk of respiratory and cardiovascular system diseases. risk, scientists have identified smoking as a potentially modifiable risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia [4].

 

But previous studies did not distinguish between smokers’ past smoking history and how long it had been since they had quit, such as whether their last cigarette was a year ago or 10 years ago. There were also no gender-specific studies. Therefore, more details are needed to further clarify the impact of smoking on SCD in order to guide people in prevention.

 

 

The concepts of early intervention and prevention also apply to SCD

 

In response to this situation, researchers conducted a cross-sectional study using the 2019 US BRFSS data (a health information monitoring and data collection system covering adults in the United States) to evaluate the correlation between smoking status and SCD in middle-aged and elderly people . After meeting the inclusion criteria, a total of 136,018 eligible participants over the age of 45 were included in the analysis, of whom 53.6% were women and 74.2% self-reported their race as white and non-Hispanic.

 

The study defined smoking status as the following four categories: current smokers, recent smokers (more than 1 year but less than 10 years since last smoke), former smokers (more than 10 years since last smoke), and never smokers, And all three types of smokers must meet the conditions of having smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime. The standard for the study to judge SCD was to ask the participants: “In the past 12 months, have you experienced more frequent or more severe confusion or memory loss?” Participants who answered yes were determined to have occurred. SCD.

 

Of the participants included in the analysis, more than half had never smoked (55.0%), while 10.8% had SCD, 42.8% of the participants in this group had never smoked, 61.0% and 28.9% of the participants reported hypertension and diabetes separately; whereas in the group without SCD, more than half of the participants had never smoked (56.6%), and fewer participants reported hypertension (51.5%) and diabetes (17.3% ).

 

Further data analysis showed that all smoking status was associated with the occurrence of SCD, and there was a dose-effect relationship between smoking status and SCD. The risk of SCD in current smokers is 2.12 times that of never smokers (95% CI: 1.96, 2.29); the risk of SCD in recent smokers and former smokers is lower than that of current smokers, respectively Smokers were 1.55 times (95% CI: 1.39, 1.73) and 1.35 times (95% CI: 1.26, 1.45).

 

After controlling for the effects of multiple variables such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, and highest level of education, reanalysis showed that all smoking status was still associated with SCD, and the dose-effect relationship was also consistent with that before adjustment. Meanwhile, gender had no effect on the association between smoking status and SCD.

 

After multi-factor adjustment, the risk of SCD among current smokers was slightly reduced, but it was still 1.87 times that of never smokers (95% CI: 1.54, 2.38); the risk of SCD among recent smokers was lower than that of never smokers 1.47 times (95% CI: 1.02, 2.12) ; however, there was no significant difference in the risk of SCD between former smokers and never smokers.

 

Smoking seriously hurts human brains

Risk of SCD in different smoking status compared with never smokers

 

The researchers then divided the participants into middle-aged (45-59 years old) and elderly (60 years and older) subgroups for analysis to assess whether the association between smoking status and SCD was different in different age groups. The data show that the smoking status of the middle-aged group has a stronger correlation with SCD, especially the risk of SCD among middle-aged current smokers is 2.71 times that of never-smokers; the adjusted risk is that of never-smokers 2.59 times.

 

Smoking seriously hurts human brains

Risk of SCD in middle-aged (45-59 years old) and elderly (60 years and older) people with different smoking status compared with never smokers

 

Overall, the researchers found a dose-response relationship between smoking status and the risk of SCD in adults aged 45 and over through a large sample size of 130,000 people, which was not affected by gender. Compared with never smokers, current smokers had the highest risk of SCD, followed by those who last smoked within the past 1 to 10 years (recent smokers), followed by smokers 10 years or more ago ( ex-smoker).

 

It can be seen that the length of time after quitting smoking may be related to the impact on cognition, and the longer the time of quitting smoking, the smaller the impact on cognition. In other words, the earlier you quit smoking, the lower the risk of cognitive decline in middle age and later life, and the earlier you quit smoking, the greater the benefits!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

references:

1.JI Rajczyk, A Ferketich, JJ Wing. Relation Between Smoking Status and Subjective Cognitive Decline in Middle Age and Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of 2019 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Data[J]. J Alzheimers Dis. 2022 Nov 9 . Online ahead of print.

2.LA Rabin, CM Smart, RE Amariglio. Subjective Cognitive Decline in Preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease[J]. Annu Rev Clin Psychol. 2017,8(13):369-396.

3.M Kivipelto, F Mangialasche, T Ngandu. Lifestyle interventions to prevent cognitive impairment, dementia and Alzheimer disease[J]. Nat Rev Neurol. 2018, 14(11):653-666.

4.SS Pathan, RF Gottesman, TH Mosley, et al. Association of lung function with cognitive decline and dementia: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study[J]. Eur J Neurol. 2011, 18(6):888- 98.

Smoking seriously hurts human brains

(source:internet, reference only)


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