Smoking Not Associated With Dementia

A study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease found no link between smoking and a higher risk of developing dementia, reports United Press International . "The underlying data in earlier studies was solid, but the analysis didn't take into account the idea of competing for risk of mortality, which we felt was an important factor to consider in this case since smoking is so strongly associated with earlier death," said the University of Kentucky's Erin Abner. Competing risk can interfere with a study's conclusions by assuming that a certain risk factor causes a condition when another one is present and possibly the true cause. The researchers used a Competing Risk Analysis to test the results of 531 initially cognitively-normal participants in another study that examined the impact of aging on cognition. With two risk factors in place, the researchers did not observe any clear association between smoking and dementia. "While our study results could influence smoking cessation policy and practice, we feel that the most important consequence of our work is to demonstrate how this method could change the way we approach dementia research and to advocate for its adoption in the appropriate areas of study," Abner concluded.