The Lung Cancer Blog » September 2007
September 4, 2007
Smoking Increases Risk of Alzheimer's and Dementia
A new Dutch study of over 7,000 people has found that current smokers are 50 percent more likely to develop dementia or Alzheimer's disease than non-smokers or former smokers.
"Smoking increases the risk of cerebrovascular disease, which is also tied to dementia," study author Dr. Monique Breteler, of Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, said in a prepared statement. "Another mechanism could be through oxidative stress, which can damage cells in the blood vessels and lead to hardening of the arteries. Smokers experience greater oxidative stress than nonsmokers, and increased oxidative stress is also seen in Alzheimer's disease."
The results of the study were published in the Sept. 4 issue of Neurology.
