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Smoking 'lowers memory' in middle age

10/06/2008

Middle-aged smokers are more likely to have worse memory and poorer reasoning than non-smokers, new research claims today.

The study of over 10,000 London-based workers discovered people who smoke were most likely to score lowly on tests assessing thinking, learning and memory – collectively known as cognitive skills.

French researchers made the link after assessing civil servants aged 35 to 55 who enrolled in the Whitehall II study between 1985 and 1988. Smoking habits were assessed at that time and again between 1997 and 1999.

A total of 5,388 participants completed tests of memory, reasoning, vocabulary and verbal fluency between 1997 and 1999 and 4,659 were re-tested five years later.

At the first round of cognitive testing, those who smoked were more likely to be in the lowest-performing group (lowest 20 per cent) compared with those who had never smoked.

Those who reported being ex-smokers at the beginning of the study were 30 per cent less likely than smokers to have poor vocabulary and low verbal frequency scores.

The research also revealed that people who stopped smoking during the study began to live healthier lives overall; with less alcohol consumed, more exercise taken and more fruit and vegetables eaten.

The researchers say the findings, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, are important as individuals with cognitive impairment in midlife may progress to dementia at a faster rate.

"During the past 20 years, public health messages about smoking have led to changes in smoking behaviour," they conclude.

"Public health messages on smoking should continue to target smokers of all ages."