Reported by: Anza CRWE Newswire Middle East Correspondent.

Alzheimer’s disease more prevalent in heavy middle aged smokers who have forty cigarettes daily; findings indicate a two fold increase of Alzheimer’s disease.

Moreover, heavy smoking also increases another form of dementia. The US scientists followed the progress of more than 21,000 middle aged men and women for an average of 23 years.

Those individuals who had smoked more than two packets of 20 cigarettes in a day had a 157 % higher possibility of suffering Alzheimer’s as compared to non-smokers.

If we look at the statistics, they also had a 172% increased risk of vascular dementia over the follow up period.

After Alzheimer the most common form of the disease is vascular dementia. This study reflects that the human brain is not immune to the long term consequences of heavy smoking.

Smoking affects blood pressure and raise blood clotting factors, and consequently, vascular health plays a role in the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

In a dementia survey participants in the study were enrolled between 1978 and 1985 when they were 50 to 60 years old. A total of 1136 were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and 416 with vascular dementia.

According to the results, heavy smoking in middle age was associated with a higher risk of dementia overall, in addition to a greater probability of developing each of the sub types.

On the other hand, those who smoked less than half a pack a day did not face any increased level of risk. The race and gender factor had no impact on the results of the findings.

Smoking causes inflammation and oxidative stress and this leads to Alzheimer’s disease.

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