Smoking Appears Linked with Risk for Poor Memory in Middle Age

Smoking is linked to an increased risk for memory deficit and cognitive decline in middle age in an analysis based on data from Whitehall II, a large, prospective cohort study. The findings by Séverine Sabia, MSc, at the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, in Villejuif, France, and colleagues, are published in the June 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. Compared with study participants who had never smoked, after adjustment for other confounding factors, smokers had a 37% increased risk of having scores in the lowest quintile on a memory test (they were more likely to recall less than 5 of 20 words), Ms. Sabia told Medscape Psychiatry. The full article is available on Medscape.