DALLAS: Cancer, stroke and heart disease are well documented but not many are aware of the direct links between tobacco and the raised incidence of dementia in an aging population.
The fact that smoking kills is so deeply embedded in our political, social and cultural landscape that it has largely lost the power to shock. Tobacco may cause more deaths than drugs, alcohol, suicide and road accidents together, but that’s not really news any more.
Less familiar is the frequency with which a smoking-related death only occurs after many years of debilitating illness. That awkward fact doesn’t get so much airtime.
Building the discussion of smoking’s impact on quality of life, and the ability to live well, requires us to consider the links with other areas of public health.
The risk of developing dementia is up to 70 per cent higher in current heavy smokers than in non-smokers but decreases substantially upon stopping smoking. So the ongoing reduction in the smoking rate is already helping to reduce overall dementia rates, says…