Smoking linked to mid-life memory loss: study

The researchers said that they found strong links between smoking and cognitive and memory problems later in life.

8220;First, smoking in middle age is associated with memory deficit and decline in reasoning abilities,8221; they wrote in a report in the June 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. 8220;Second, long-term ex-smokers are less likely to have cognitive deficits in memory, vocabulary and verbal fluency.8221;

8220;Third, giving up smoking in mid-life is accompanied by improvement in other health behaviours. Fourth, our results8230; suggest that the association between smoking and cognition, even in late mid-life, could be underestimated because of higher risk of death and non-participation in cognitive tests among smokers.8221;

The authors stressed that 8220;the results are important because individuals with cognitive impairment in mid-life may progress to dementia at a faster rate8221;.