In a new study from Weill Cornell Medicine, researchers found the more people smoke, the worse they perform on cognitive tests, regardless of other health conditions known to affect cognition.
They examined detailed national data of adults aged 60 and older to evaluate whether smoking in combination with other medical conditions, such as high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes, had an amplified impact on cognitive abilities.
They say a person who smokes cigarettes regularly yet is otherwise healthy, without Type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure, is still at risk for poor brain health.
The researchers examined health data for 3,244 participants (average age of 69 years) collected between 2011 and 2014.
High blood pressure was present in 77% of the participants. Type 2 diabetes was present among 24% of the participants. Current smoking status was self-reported by 23% of participants.
Each participant took four tests often used to measure cognitive function. The tests reflect multiple aspects of cognition, such as word recall, fluency, processing speed, attention, and working memory.
The team found smoking was linked to much worse processing speed, attention, and working memory.
The link was comparable among people with high blood pressure or Type 2 diabetes.
These results suggest that smoking has a strong enough influence on brain health independent of other health conditions.
This means that smoking is bad for brain health even in people who don’t have other health conditions typically linked with poor brain health.
Researchers note their findings may encourage health professionals to more strongly encourage their patients to stop smoking, regardless of age.
If you care about brain health, please read studies about inflammation that may actually slow down cognitive decline in older people, and findings that low vitamin D may speed up cognitive decline.
For more information about brain health, please see recent studies about common exercises that could protect against cognitive decline, and results showing that this MIND diet may protect your cognitive function, prevent dementia.
The study was presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2022and was conducted by Neal S. Parikh et al.
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