Do you experience memory loss and confusion more often now compared to earlier in life?
That question was answered by just over 130,000 people, aged 45 and older. The Result showed that smoking had a major impact on the response.
Smokers were 1,9 times more likely to report having cognitive problems than non-smokers. However, the difference was smaller among those who had smoked but quit.
For those who quit smoking less than ten years ago, 1,5 times more people experienced cognitive problems than non-smokers. For those who quit smoking more than ten years ago, the results were broadly comparable to those of non-smokers, only with slightly more common cognitive problems.
"The importance of quitting smoking was particularly clear in the 45-59 age group. We did not see the same association at older ages. This suggests that there are greater benefits to quitting smoking if it occurs earlier in life," says Jeffrey Wing, assistant professor of epidemiology at Ohio State University and co-author of the study, in a comment.
Jeffrey Wing further believes that the study contributes to the understanding that quitting smoking not only benefits the lungs, heart and blood vessels, but is also good for maintaining cognitive ability. The study is a follow-up to previous research that has shown that smokers are at greater risk of developing Alzheimer's and other types of dementia.
Jenna Rajzcyk, a doctoral student and lead author of the latest study, believes that the findings suggest that it is possible to detect earlier whether a person is at risk of developing dementia through questions about cognitive abilities.
