Risk soars for those puffing more than two packs a day, researchers say
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Oct. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Heavy smoking in middle age seems to increase the risk for developing Alzheimer's disease or another dementia, a large new study suggests.
"We found that people who reported heavy smoking in midlife had more than a 100 percent increase in risk of Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia," said lead researcher Rachel A. Whitmer, a research scientist in Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in Oakland, Calif.
"We have known that smoking is a risk factor for cancer, stroke and cardiovascular disease," she said. "This adds to the evidence that what is bad for the heart is bad for the brain."
The report is published in the Oct. 25 online edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
For the study, Whitmer's group collected data on 21,123 ethnically diverse people in the Kaiser Permanente health care system who were surveyed between 1978 and 1985, when they were 50 to 60 years old.
During an average follow-up of 23 years, the researchers found that 25.4 percent were diagnosed with dementia, including Alzheimer's (1,136 people) or vascular dementia (416 people), which is the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer's disease. Vascular dementia is caused by damage to the arteries in the brain.
Compared with non-smokers, those who smoked more than two packs of cigarettes a day in midlife had a "dramatic increase" in the incidence of dementia -- more than a 157 percent increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and a 172 percent increased risk of developing vascular dementia, Whitmer's team found.
Former smokers and people who smoked less than half a pack a day did not appear to be at increased risk of Alzheimer's or vascular dementia, the researchers note.
The associations between smoking and dementia did not change even after adjusting for race or gender, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or heart attack, stroke or weight, they add.
A link between Alzheimer's and smoking has been shown before, but this new study pinpoints the specific risk for middle-age smokers for developing both Alzheimer's and vascular dementia, the researchers say.
Smoking, an established risk factor for stroke, may contribute to the likelihood of vascular dementia by causing small clots in the brain. Smoking also contributes to oxidative stress and inflammation, which may be linked to the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, the researchers say.
"The brain is not immune to long-term damage from smoking," Whitmer said.
Two smaller studies of predominantly white participants also suggested that mid-life smoking raised the risk of developing Alzheimer's, researchers noted.
Commenting on the new study, William Thies, chief medical and scientific officer at the Alzheimer's Association, said "this is a sound confirmation of something that's been known for a while."
Another expert, Dr. Samuel E. Gandy, the Mount Sinai Professor of Alzheimer's Disease Research at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, said the findings are promising.
"Environmental factors in Alzheimer's disease have been long sought, and, until now, only head injury has emerged," Gandy said. "Unlike head injury, a tobacco smoking association is especially important because that is a risk that can be modified."
Showing posts with label smoking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label smoking. Show all posts
Friday, November 26, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Diet, Meds and Smoking Linked to Eye Disease Risks
Good nutrition staved off cataracts; some drugs, smoking increased vision problems, studies found
MONDAY, June 14 (HealthDay News) -- A healthy diet helps guard against cataracts, while certain medications raise the risks of this common cause of vision loss, two new studies suggest.
And a third study finds that smoking increases the risk of age-related macular degeneration, another disease that robs people of their sight.
The first study found that women who eat foods that contain high levels of a variety of vitamins and minerals may be less likely to develop nuclear cataract, which is the most common type of age-related cataract in the United States.
The study is published in the June issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology.
The researchers looked at 1,808 women in Iowa, Oregon and Wisconsin who took part in a study about age-related eye disease. Overall, 736 (41 percent) of the women had either nuclear cataracts evident from lens photographs or reported having undergone cataract extraction.
"Results from this study indicate that healthy diets, which reflect adherence to the U.S. dietary guidelines . . . are more strongly related to the lower occurrence of nuclear cataracts than any other modifiable risk factor or protective factor studied in this sample of women," Julie A. Mares, of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and colleagues said in a news release from the journal.
The second study found that medications that increase sensitivity to the sun -- including antidepressants, diuretics, antibiotics and the pain reliever naproxen sodium (commonly sold over-the-counter as Aleve) -- increase the risk of age-related cataract.
Researchers followed-up with 4,926 participants over a 15-year period and concluded that an interaction between sun-sensitizing medications and sunlight (ultraviolet-B) exposure was associated with the development of cortical cataract.
"The medications [active ingredients] represent a broad range of chemical compounds, and the specific mechanism for the interaction is unclear," Dr. Barbara E.K. Klein and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, said in the news release. Their report was released online in advance of publication in the August print issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology.
Because the lens of the eye develops from the same tissue layer as the skin, sun-sensitizing medications may affect the eyes as well as the skin, the researchers explained.
"Our results need to be evaluated in other populations, especially in view of the increasing frequency of sun-sensitizing medications," they concluded. "If our findings are confirmed, it would be important to examine whether the effect is greater in those with higher levels of ambient sunlight (UV-B) exposure and if dose or duration of medication use is also important."
The third study, also published online and in the August print issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, found that smoking and cholesterol levels affect the risk for early-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
AMD is uncommon before age 55 but the risk increases after that age, therefore most studies focus on AMD in middle-aged and older adults, according to background information in the report.
"To our knowledge, accurate estimates of prevalence of AMD among adults younger than 40 years are lacking. Such information is important for understanding the relationships of risk factors to AMD across the age spectrum and for identifying factors that might affect this disease earlier in life," Dr. Ronald Klein, of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and colleagues said in the news release.
The study included 2,810 people, aged 21 to 84, who were assessed for the presence and severity of drusen. These yellow or white deposits in the retina are an early sign of AMD.
Overall, early AMD was detected in 3.4 percent of the participants, with rates ranging from 2.4 percent among those aged 21 to 34 to 9.8 percent for those aged 65 and older. Besides age, additional risk factors associated with increased risk for AMD included being male, heavy smoking for a long period of time, and being hearing impaired. Elevated levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol were associated with a lower risk for AMD, the study authors noted.
The findings "demonstrate that early AMD onset may occur in midlife. Some modifiable factors [smoking status and serum HDL cholesterol level] associated with AMD in older cohorts were associated with early AMD in this cohort of middle-aged adults," the researchers concluded.
MONDAY, June 14 (HealthDay News) -- A healthy diet helps guard against cataracts, while certain medications raise the risks of this common cause of vision loss, two new studies suggest.
And a third study finds that smoking increases the risk of age-related macular degeneration, another disease that robs people of their sight.
The first study found that women who eat foods that contain high levels of a variety of vitamins and minerals may be less likely to develop nuclear cataract, which is the most common type of age-related cataract in the United States.
The study is published in the June issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology.
The researchers looked at 1,808 women in Iowa, Oregon and Wisconsin who took part in a study about age-related eye disease. Overall, 736 (41 percent) of the women had either nuclear cataracts evident from lens photographs or reported having undergone cataract extraction.
"Results from this study indicate that healthy diets, which reflect adherence to the U.S. dietary guidelines . . . are more strongly related to the lower occurrence of nuclear cataracts than any other modifiable risk factor or protective factor studied in this sample of women," Julie A. Mares, of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and colleagues said in a news release from the journal.
The second study found that medications that increase sensitivity to the sun -- including antidepressants, diuretics, antibiotics and the pain reliever naproxen sodium (commonly sold over-the-counter as Aleve) -- increase the risk of age-related cataract.
Researchers followed-up with 4,926 participants over a 15-year period and concluded that an interaction between sun-sensitizing medications and sunlight (ultraviolet-B) exposure was associated with the development of cortical cataract.
"The medications [active ingredients] represent a broad range of chemical compounds, and the specific mechanism for the interaction is unclear," Dr. Barbara E.K. Klein and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, said in the news release. Their report was released online in advance of publication in the August print issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology.
Because the lens of the eye develops from the same tissue layer as the skin, sun-sensitizing medications may affect the eyes as well as the skin, the researchers explained.
"Our results need to be evaluated in other populations, especially in view of the increasing frequency of sun-sensitizing medications," they concluded. "If our findings are confirmed, it would be important to examine whether the effect is greater in those with higher levels of ambient sunlight (UV-B) exposure and if dose or duration of medication use is also important."
The third study, also published online and in the August print issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, found that smoking and cholesterol levels affect the risk for early-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
AMD is uncommon before age 55 but the risk increases after that age, therefore most studies focus on AMD in middle-aged and older adults, according to background information in the report.
"To our knowledge, accurate estimates of prevalence of AMD among adults younger than 40 years are lacking. Such information is important for understanding the relationships of risk factors to AMD across the age spectrum and for identifying factors that might affect this disease earlier in life," Dr. Ronald Klein, of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and colleagues said in the news release.
The study included 2,810 people, aged 21 to 84, who were assessed for the presence and severity of drusen. These yellow or white deposits in the retina are an early sign of AMD.
Overall, early AMD was detected in 3.4 percent of the participants, with rates ranging from 2.4 percent among those aged 21 to 34 to 9.8 percent for those aged 65 and older. Besides age, additional risk factors associated with increased risk for AMD included being male, heavy smoking for a long period of time, and being hearing impaired. Elevated levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol were associated with a lower risk for AMD, the study authors noted.
The findings "demonstrate that early AMD onset may occur in midlife. Some modifiable factors [smoking status and serum HDL cholesterol level] associated with AMD in older cohorts were associated with early AMD in this cohort of middle-aged adults," the researchers concluded.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Are you removing years from your life?
April 26, 2010 | 1:01 pm
From the Los Angeles Times:
You know that smoking is bad for your health. Ditto heavy drinking, a slovenly lifestyle or a preference for chili cheese fries over fruits and vegetables.
Epidemiologists have linked each of these behaviors to increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke. But few people engage in only one unhealthy habit. (C’mon, what are you more likely to be snacking on while parked on the couch watching three consecutive NBA playoff games – carrot sticks and bottled water, or chips, guacamole and beer?) So an international group of researchers – including USC cancer epidemiologist Dr. Giske Ursin – studied the effect of all four bad behaviors at once.
What defines “bad”? Smokers fill that bill, while nonsmokers and former smokers did not. Men who consumed more than 21 8-gram servings of alcohol and women who drank more than 14 servings of alcohol were considered to have poor drinking behavior. Anyone who got less than 120 minutes of exercise each week was defined as having poor physical activity, and bad diets were those that contained fewer than 3 fruits or vegetables each day.
After tracking nearly 5,000 British adults for 20 years, the researchers were able to correlate these behaviors with risk of disease and death. (In case you were wondering, men and women, average age 43.7, were equally lazy, but men were more likely to smoke, drink to excess and skip the fruits and veggies.)
The researchers found that Britons who indulged in all four bad behaviors were 3.49 times more likely to die over the course of the study than their countrymen (and women) who practiced clean living. That included a 3.14 times greater risk of death from cardiovascular disease; a 3.35 times greater risk of death from cancer; and a 4.29 times greater risk of death form any other cause.
Overall, 96% of those with healthy behaviors were alive at the end of the study, compared with 85% of those with the worst health habits. “The increase in mortality risk from no to 4 poor health behavior was equivalent to an increase in chronological age of about 12 years,” the researchers wrote.
The study will appear in Tuesday’s edition of Archives of Internal Medicine.
-- Karen Kaplan
From the Los Angeles Times:
You know that smoking is bad for your health. Ditto heavy drinking, a slovenly lifestyle or a preference for chili cheese fries over fruits and vegetables.
Epidemiologists have linked each of these behaviors to increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke. But few people engage in only one unhealthy habit. (C’mon, what are you more likely to be snacking on while parked on the couch watching three consecutive NBA playoff games – carrot sticks and bottled water, or chips, guacamole and beer?) So an international group of researchers – including USC cancer epidemiologist Dr. Giske Ursin – studied the effect of all four bad behaviors at once.
What defines “bad”? Smokers fill that bill, while nonsmokers and former smokers did not. Men who consumed more than 21 8-gram servings of alcohol and women who drank more than 14 servings of alcohol were considered to have poor drinking behavior. Anyone who got less than 120 minutes of exercise each week was defined as having poor physical activity, and bad diets were those that contained fewer than 3 fruits or vegetables each day.
After tracking nearly 5,000 British adults for 20 years, the researchers were able to correlate these behaviors with risk of disease and death. (In case you were wondering, men and women, average age 43.7, were equally lazy, but men were more likely to smoke, drink to excess and skip the fruits and veggies.)
The researchers found that Britons who indulged in all four bad behaviors were 3.49 times more likely to die over the course of the study than their countrymen (and women) who practiced clean living. That included a 3.14 times greater risk of death from cardiovascular disease; a 3.35 times greater risk of death from cancer; and a 4.29 times greater risk of death form any other cause.
Overall, 96% of those with healthy behaviors were alive at the end of the study, compared with 85% of those with the worst health habits. “The increase in mortality risk from no to 4 poor health behavior was equivalent to an increase in chronological age of about 12 years,” the researchers wrote.
The study will appear in Tuesday’s edition of Archives of Internal Medicine.
-- Karen Kaplan
Friday, January 29, 2010
Smoke exposure during pregnancy may damage babies' blood pressure control.
From BBC news:
Smoke exposure during pregnancy damages a baby's blood pressure control, which may explain why such babies' risk of cot death is higher, say experts.
Maternal smoking remains one of the biggest risk factors for cot death.
A team at Sweden's Karolinksa Institute found smoke-exposed babies had abnormal surges in blood pressure, even when sleeping undisturbed in their cots.
These surges put extra demand on the heart, making it pump faster and harder, the journal Hypertension says.
The study suggests damage to the circulation may be a factor in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), although it set out to look at the effects of smoking on the newborn rather than cot death per se.
Dr Gary Cohen and his team studied 36 newborn babies - 17 of whom had mothers who smoked during the pregnancy.
When they examined the babies they found the ones that had been exposed to cigarette smoke showed abnormal heart rate and blood pressure responses.
And these abnormal responses got worse throughout their first year of life.
Dramatically different
At one week of age the smoke-exposed babies showed abnormally large blood pressure rises as they were lifted up from lying down.
By the age of one, the same babies appeared to have adapted to this and now showed abnormally low blood pressure responses to the same posture change.
Usually, when a person stands the heart rate increases and the blood vessels tighten, raising blood pressure slightly, to keep up the blood flow to the heart and brain.
Dr Cohen said: "Babies of smokers have evidence of persistent problems in blood pressure regulation that start at birth and get worse over time.
"This study reveals for the first time that early life exposure to tobacco can lead to long-lasting reprogramming of the infant blood pressure control mechanism."
He said this might explain why babies of women who smoke are at increased risk of cot death.
"We have known for some time that there is a cardiovascular element to sudden infant death.
"It's not just breathing, but blood pressure control and heart rate control.
"This is another piece of the jigsaw."
He plans to continue to study the babies as they grow up to see if the damage is lasting and whether it leads to problems, such as high blood pressure, in later life.
Professor George Haycock, scientific adviser for the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID), said: "The hypothesis presented here is highly plausible and agrees with work from other research groups.
"FSID's top piece of advice remains, cut smoking in pregnancy - fathers too, and don't let anyone smoke in the same room as your baby."
Experts say a third of cot deaths could be avoided if mothers-to-be did not smoke.
Janet Fyle, Professional Policy Advisor at the Royal College of Midwives, said: "These findings support what we know; that smoking during pregnancy can harm the developing foetus.
"The RCM would urge pregnant women who smoke to seek advice and support from their midwife about stopping smoking, for the benefit of their own long-term health.
"This would also benefit the health of their child."
Smoke exposure during pregnancy damages a baby's blood pressure control, which may explain why such babies' risk of cot death is higher, say experts.
Maternal smoking remains one of the biggest risk factors for cot death.
A team at Sweden's Karolinksa Institute found smoke-exposed babies had abnormal surges in blood pressure, even when sleeping undisturbed in their cots.
These surges put extra demand on the heart, making it pump faster and harder, the journal Hypertension says.
The study suggests damage to the circulation may be a factor in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), although it set out to look at the effects of smoking on the newborn rather than cot death per se.
Dr Gary Cohen and his team studied 36 newborn babies - 17 of whom had mothers who smoked during the pregnancy.
When they examined the babies they found the ones that had been exposed to cigarette smoke showed abnormal heart rate and blood pressure responses.
And these abnormal responses got worse throughout their first year of life.
Dramatically different
At one week of age the smoke-exposed babies showed abnormally large blood pressure rises as they were lifted up from lying down.
By the age of one, the same babies appeared to have adapted to this and now showed abnormally low blood pressure responses to the same posture change.
Usually, when a person stands the heart rate increases and the blood vessels tighten, raising blood pressure slightly, to keep up the blood flow to the heart and brain.
Dr Cohen said: "Babies of smokers have evidence of persistent problems in blood pressure regulation that start at birth and get worse over time.
"This study reveals for the first time that early life exposure to tobacco can lead to long-lasting reprogramming of the infant blood pressure control mechanism."
He said this might explain why babies of women who smoke are at increased risk of cot death.
"We have known for some time that there is a cardiovascular element to sudden infant death.
"It's not just breathing, but blood pressure control and heart rate control.
"This is another piece of the jigsaw."
He plans to continue to study the babies as they grow up to see if the damage is lasting and whether it leads to problems, such as high blood pressure, in later life.
Professor George Haycock, scientific adviser for the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID), said: "The hypothesis presented here is highly plausible and agrees with work from other research groups.
"FSID's top piece of advice remains, cut smoking in pregnancy - fathers too, and don't let anyone smoke in the same room as your baby."
Experts say a third of cot deaths could be avoided if mothers-to-be did not smoke.
Janet Fyle, Professional Policy Advisor at the Royal College of Midwives, said: "These findings support what we know; that smoking during pregnancy can harm the developing foetus.
"The RCM would urge pregnant women who smoke to seek advice and support from their midwife about stopping smoking, for the benefit of their own long-term health.
"This would also benefit the health of their child."
Friday, December 11, 2009
Cigarettes May Contain Bacteria
Study Shows Cigarettes May Be Contaminated With Hundreds of Types of Bacteria
By Kelli Miller Stacy
WebMD Health NewsReviewed by Elizabeth Klodas, MD, FACC
Nov. 24, 2009 -- Cigarettes are massive germ factories that may expose users and passersby to a swarm of disease-causing bacteria, a study shows.
It's well known that cigarette smoke harbors hundreds of toxic chemicals that are bad for your health. But a University of Maryland environmental health researcher says that's not the only danger. DNA examination of four cigarette brands shows, for the first time, that cigarettes are "widely contaminated" with hundreds of different types of bacteria. In fact, there appears to be as many bacteria in cigarettes as there are chemicals.
"The commercially available cigarettes that we tested were chock full of bacteria, as we had hypothesized, but we didn't think we'd find so many that are infectious in humans," says researcher Amy R. Sapkota, an assistant professor in the University of Maryland's School of Public Health.
Sapkota and microbial ecologists at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon in France examined the bacteria content in four major cigarette brands: Camel, Kool Filter Kings, Lucky Strike Original Red, and Marlboro Red and found similar types of bacteria in each one.
Previous research has watched for bacterial growth in lab dishes containing small tobacco samples, but this study is the first to scrutinize a cigarette's bacterial genetic makeup.
The testing revealed that cigarettes contain a wide variety of bacteria that are linked to lung, blood, and food-borne-related infections. Among those present were:
Acinetobacter -- associated with certain blood and lung infections
Bacillus -- some types are associated with anthrax and food poisoning
Burkholderia -- some strains can cause respiratory infections
Clostridium -- linked to food poisoning-related illnesses and lung infections
Klebsiella -- associated with many kinds of lung, blood, and other infections
Pseudomonas aeruginosa -- a specific type of bacteria that is responsible for 10% of hospital-acquired infections
"If these organisms can survive the smoking process -- and we believe they can -- then they could possibly go on to contribute to both infectious and chronic illnesses in both smokers and individuals who are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke," Sapkota says.
Although the public health implications of these findings are unclear at present, scientists plan to continue their research to determine if the bacteria can be implicated in tobacco-related diseases. A big question is whether or not cigarette-borne bacteria can survive the burning process and enter the lungs of smokers and grow. Some evidence suggests that some bacteria can spread this way. The bacteria may also be present on, or in, the filter.
The study findings appear online ahead of print in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
By Kelli Miller Stacy
WebMD Health NewsReviewed by Elizabeth Klodas, MD, FACC
Nov. 24, 2009 -- Cigarettes are massive germ factories that may expose users and passersby to a swarm of disease-causing bacteria, a study shows.
It's well known that cigarette smoke harbors hundreds of toxic chemicals that are bad for your health. But a University of Maryland environmental health researcher says that's not the only danger. DNA examination of four cigarette brands shows, for the first time, that cigarettes are "widely contaminated" with hundreds of different types of bacteria. In fact, there appears to be as many bacteria in cigarettes as there are chemicals.
"The commercially available cigarettes that we tested were chock full of bacteria, as we had hypothesized, but we didn't think we'd find so many that are infectious in humans," says researcher Amy R. Sapkota, an assistant professor in the University of Maryland's School of Public Health.
Sapkota and microbial ecologists at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon in France examined the bacteria content in four major cigarette brands: Camel, Kool Filter Kings, Lucky Strike Original Red, and Marlboro Red and found similar types of bacteria in each one.
Previous research has watched for bacterial growth in lab dishes containing small tobacco samples, but this study is the first to scrutinize a cigarette's bacterial genetic makeup.
The testing revealed that cigarettes contain a wide variety of bacteria that are linked to lung, blood, and food-borne-related infections. Among those present were:
Acinetobacter -- associated with certain blood and lung infections
Bacillus -- some types are associated with anthrax and food poisoning
Burkholderia -- some strains can cause respiratory infections
Clostridium -- linked to food poisoning-related illnesses and lung infections
Klebsiella -- associated with many kinds of lung, blood, and other infections
Pseudomonas aeruginosa -- a specific type of bacteria that is responsible for 10% of hospital-acquired infections
"If these organisms can survive the smoking process -- and we believe they can -- then they could possibly go on to contribute to both infectious and chronic illnesses in both smokers and individuals who are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke," Sapkota says.
Although the public health implications of these findings are unclear at present, scientists plan to continue their research to determine if the bacteria can be implicated in tobacco-related diseases. A big question is whether or not cigarette-borne bacteria can survive the burning process and enter the lungs of smokers and grow. Some evidence suggests that some bacteria can spread this way. The bacteria may also be present on, or in, the filter.
The study findings appear online ahead of print in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
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