(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- As if lung and liver cancer weren’t enough of a
reason to stop smoking and drinking; a new study reveals Alzheimer’s patients
who smoked and drank heavily developed the disease an average of six to seven
years sooner than those who did neither.
The research is from a study done at the Wien Center for Alzheimer’s Disease at
Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Fla. “These results are significant
because it’s possible that if we can reduce or eliminate heavy smoking and
drinking, we could substantially delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease for
people,” study author Ranjan Dura, M.D., was quoted as saying.
Researchers found people who drank heavily developed the disease almost five
years sooner than non drinkers. Heavy smokers got the disease a little over two
years sooner and people with the APOE gene variant associated with Alzheimer’s
developed it three years sooner.
Those who had all three risk factors had the highest onset numbers. They were
likely to develop Alzheimer’s at age 68 and half, while those who neither smoked
or drank heavily or had the APOE gene variant didn’t get it until 77 years of
age -- a difference of more than eight years.
“It has been projected that a delay in the onset of the disease by five years
would lead to a nearly 50 percent reduction in the total number of Alzheimer’s
cases,” Dr. Dura said. Dr. Dura also noted the study results showed heavy
smoking and drinking were among the most important preventable risk factors for
Alzheimer’s.
SOURCE: Presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 60th Annual Meeting in
Chicago, April 12-19, 2008
