Smoking causes middle-age mental decline

[Warpy]

As though you all needed another reason to quit:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25065169/

CHICAGO - Middle-aged adults who smoke tended to perform poorly on tests of memory and reasoning compared to nonsmokers, adding to the list of reasons not to smoke, French researchers said on Monday.

Analyzing previously collected data on about 5,000 British civil servants, the researchers found those who smoked were more likely than people who never smoked to be in the lowest-performing of five groups in tests of memory, reasoning, vocabulary and verbal fluency.

Smoking was associated with mental decline in middle age, as it is with dementia and a host of physical ills later in life, they found.
(snip)
The study also demonstrated how difficult it can be to conduct long-term research on smokers: more than twice as many smokers as non-smokers refused to take the memory test again or were not able to be re-tested, in some cases because they died in the interim.

Ouch.

[panader0]

1. Generic unfiltered

still do the Sunday NYT crossword in pen in short time. Besides, those were Brits in the study.

[Mojorabbit]

4. I'd love to see the

controls in this study.

[parasim]

2. What cat do mean this is maybe?

Says the now this is not what I expected so maybe the waves are reaching the level of... what did you say? oh, yeah, that's nice, look at that. Nice. Could I have another one please?

[elocs]

3. From somebody who has never smoked I could never appreciate how hard it is to quit.

I believe it truly is an addiction and that the tobacco companies have manipulated nicotine to keep people hooked. Most smokers understand the rational reasons why smoking is bad for them, but most cannot easily quit. My own father died at age 49 of emphysema after smoking multiple packs of unfiltered Camels a day. I read letters he sent to his father from the battlefields of WWII pleading with him to send cigarettes, that he "needed" cigarettes.

[parasim]

5. You're right. Nonsmokers will never understand.

Both of my parents died at a young because of the evil weed. Yet, I, most times, couldn't care less. As long as I have a pack nearby. I know they're killing me. I just don't care when I'm smoking. I honestly don't care. There are certain periods of the day I think about it and really do care, but once I'm sitting down smoking, those thoughts turn to "will I have enough to the last to the end of the day?" If not, I run down to the 7-eleven.

It is a sickness, I do understand that. I just haven't figured out quite yet how to deal with it. I've been reading this great book by Allen Carr that gets me in the mood to quit, I just won't let myself finish the book. It's pathetic, really.

[elocs]

6. I have taken a different tact with people I know or meet who smoke now.

I don't harp at them or nag them or get on their case about how it is bad. They know it is bad and if it was easy to quit, they would. It may not be any more effective to getting them to quit, but at least I am less annoying and they are less defensive. I think the sad thing is that most smokers would like to quit, but they would like it to be their own idea.

[parasim]

8. We appreciate people like you.

But it's not like it's got to be my "own idea". I just know that I have to do it. Because I also do appreciate the close friends that constantly harp on me about it. When the time comes, I know I can do it. It's just fucked up, addiction is.

[WildClarySage]

15. I'm watching my father die from lung cancer.

He's lost his hair, his appetite, his ability to fall asleep and now, thanks to radiation treatments, his hearing. The pain he faces must be excruciating for him to not be able to hide it from us- he's the kind of man I always thought would be drawing his last breath to tell us he's fine, don't worry, and now the pain's written all over his face. He's on strong painkillers, but they aren't enough. It's absolutely devastating to see this strong man now reduced to a shadow of himself.

He was diagnosed at stage 3 in October, he's now stage 4, with cancer now spread to his brain. He has stroke-like symptoms, can't always find the right words which are slurred, weakness in his limbs and mental confusion at times, and painful awareness of those periods when he is clear. Between slurred speech and his hearing almost gone, it's hard to communicate, and that's all the more painful because there's so much to say and so little time left. I'm afraid we're probably down to weeks now. That's not enough time, but with the kind of pain he faces, it's also too much time.

I used to smoke too- and even after I 'quit' I would still have one or two when I got stressed out... and end up buying one or two packs before I'd quit again. Now the thought of smoking is sickening. The knowledge that I put money into the pockets of the people who lied about the danger and manipulated nicotine levels to increase addictive properties of the cigarettes- killing my daddy- I can't stand it. I'm still addicted to nicotine, I always will be. Quitting was the hardest thing I ever had to do, and I still want just one more! But those bastards will never see another dime of mine, and I will do everything I can to decrease their revenues by shouting out loud and clear how awful those damned things are. Please keep trying to quit and never give up on it, because you wanna live a full rich life, because cigarette companies have done nothing to deserve your money, and because you don't want your loved ones have to watch you die from this horrible disease.

[parasim]

16. wow... thanks for sharing that.

no words come to me... just thanks for sharing yours and your father's pain from this horrible thing.

it has opened my eyes. it really has.

thank you.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

10. You got it.

No one ever nagged, cajoled, or lectured anyone else into quitting. I'm a light smoker (about 5 or so a day) and I know my b/f hates that I do it. But he never gives me a hard time about it and I find that I can go for days without even lighting up once when I'm staying at his place or we're travelling together. I'll probably end up quitting by default when we finally move in together for good.

[Warpy]

11. I spent a fair amount of my nursing career dealing with heart patients

who still smoked and I learned the best way to approach them was to ask them if they knew all the reasons they needed to quit smoking. They always got into defensive mode and barked "Yes!" I'd then tell them to consider themselves lectured, that it was part of my job, and change the subject.

It was only then that they'd call me back later to discuss quitting options.

I learned very early that doing the formal teaching sessions that were required just plain didn't work. The lighter approach did.

[vanboggie]

7. I'm a hard case and found my solution

Chantix. It was the easiest way I ever found to quit, except I took the pills for a month before I could wean myself down to quit totally. They suggest the 2nd week, but I'm hard-core addicted and let the pills taper me down gently. I highly recommend it. I had tried everything else - several times. Oh, and I kept a pack around so I'd still feel secure that I had some in the house.

[parasim]

9. I've been trying to avoid the taking a drug to cure a drug addiction route...

but maybe it is a way to do it. Thanks. I'll consider that.

[varkam]

12. Alternative explanation:

Couldn't it be that there's a third-variable at play, or even reverse causation? Smoking is generally also associated with lower SES and poor education outcomes. Just a thought.

[Jim__]

13. Some subjects were followed for 17 years.

From the article: The participants were aged 35 to 55 at the beginning of the study, which followed some subjects up to 17 years.

So, presumably, they tracked an actual decline.

[varkam]

14. From the article, it seems difficult to determine...

whether or not there was a decline or if it was just that smokers performed worse than non-smokers. In other words, did they compare the two trials within groups and then see who had the most significant decline, or was it a straight between-groups comparison? From the article, it isn't exactly clear what the DV was.

[salvorhardin]

17. It's hard to say just from reading the abstract

The study was conducted on data from a previous study. The authors do say that "After adjustment for multiple covariates, this risk remained for memory". So perhaps they did try to take into account SES.

Smoking History and Cognitive Function in Middle Age From the Whitehall II Study
Séverine Sabia, MSc; Michael Marmot, PhD, FFPHM, FRCP; Carole Dufouil, PhD; Archana Singh-Manoux, PhD
Arch Intern Med. 2008;168(11):1165-1173.

Background Studies about the association between smoking and dementia necessarily involve those who have "survived" smoking. We examine the association between smoking history and cognitive function in middle age and estimate the risk of death and of nonparticipation in cognitive tests among smokers.

Methods Data are from the Whitehall II study of 10 308 participants aged 35 to 55 years at baseline (phase 1 <1985-1988>). Smoking history was assessed at phase 1 and at phase 5 (1997-1999). Cognitive data (memory, reasoning, vocabulary, and semantic and phonemic fluency) were available for 5388 participants at phase 5; 4659 of these were retested 5 years later.
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/168/11/1165