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Study links smoking with increased Alzheimer's riskDate: 06/09/2007 09:25:09
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Smokers are at a greater risk of developing Alzheimer's disease than people who have never smoked or who have quit the habit, a new study suggests.
Researchers at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, Holland, looked at the health of almost 7,000 adults over the age of 55 for an average period of seven years.
They found that those people who smoked were 50 per cent more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than their non-smoking peers.
While the habit was not seen to affect the Alzheimer's risk of people who were found to have the APOE4 gene, long-associated with dementia, those people who did not have the gene had a 70 per cent higher risk of developing the disease if they smoked, the study also found.
Writing in the journal Neurology, the study's leader Dr Monique Bretler added that smoking can also raise the risk of strokes.
"Smoking increases the risk of cerebrovascular disease (stroke), which is also tied to dementia," she said.
"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 non-smokers, and increased oxidative stress is also seen in Alzheimer's disease."
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