LIVING,MOVING MEMORIES-Breathing 4 Life's Memory: Study: Alzheimer's risk spikes 157% with heavy smo...

LIVING,MOVING MEMORIES-Breathing 4 Life's Memory: Study: Alzheimer's risk spikes 157% with heavy smo...: "Study: Alzheimer's risk spikes 157% with heavy smoking - USATODAY.com

Heavy smoking in midlife more than doubles your odds of developing ..."

Study: Alzheimer's risk spikes 157% with heavy smoking - USATODAY.com

Study: Alzheimer's risk spikes 157% with heavy smoking - USATODAY.com

Heavy smoking in midlife more than doubles your odds of developing Alzheimer's disease, a Kaiser Permanente study said Monday.

The study is the first to examine the long-term consequences of heavy smoking on Alzheimer's and vascular dementia, says the study's principal investigator, Rachel Whitmer, a research scientist with Kaiser Permanente in Oakland.

Researchers evaluated the records of 21,123 men and women, who, starting in midlife, were followed for an average of 23 years. Of 5,367 study participants diagnosed with dementia later in life, 2,367 were smokers, and 261 were heavy smokers (more than two packs a day). Compared with non-smokers, those who had smoked two packs of cigarettes a day increased their risk of developing Alzheimer's by more than 157% and had a 172% higher risk of developing vascular dementia — the second-most-common form of dementia after Alzheimer's. The research is published online in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Though the study was observational, the authors have theories about what might be going on, Whitmer says. "People who smoke have increased inflammation, and we know inflammation also plays a role in Alzheimer's," she says.

Dementia experts say the new research is strong. "This study is particularly good because it separates out vascular dementia and Alzheimer's," says William Thies, the Alzheimer's Association's chief medical and scientific officer.

"The other novel aspect of it is that they've got a large enough sample to look at different ethnic groups, and it shows smoking's effect on dementia does not differ based on race," says Brenda Plassman, epidemiologist at Duke University Medical Center.

A key question for worried smokers: If I quit, will I lower my risk for dementia? The answer is unknown, but Whitmer says researchers are planning a follow-up study to find out.

The bottom line: "If there's somebody out there who hasn't heard smoking's bad for you, they must live in a cave somewhere," Thies says.

"This is another good reason not to smoke."

LIVING,MOVING MEMORIES-Breathing 4 Life's Memory: Voices

LIVING,MOVING MEMORIES-Breathing 4 Life's Memory: Voices

Voices

Year In Review 2009

Today there are an estimated 5 million Americans living with Alzheimer's, and someone new faces the disease every 71 seconds. By mid-century, someone will develop the disease every 33 seconds -- unless we act now!

Alzheimer's disease is an escalating epidemic due to our aging population. In fact, 10 million baby boomers will develop Alzheimer's disease in their lifetime. But your support as Alzheimer Champions allows us to move closer to ensuring that more of us can grow older without fearing this devastating disease.

❤ ACT For Awareness ❢ ❤

FastStats

• 
  

Leading Causes of Death

(Data are for the U.S.)

Number of deaths for leading causes of death

• Heart disease: 616,067
• Cancer: 562,875
• Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 135,952
• Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 127,924
• Accidents (unintentional injuries): 123,706
• Alzheimer's disease: 74,632
• Diabetes: 71,382
• Influenza and Pneumonia: 52,717
• Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 46,448
• Septicemia: 34,828

Source: Deaths: Final Data for 2007, table B

More data

• Deaths and mortality
• Deaths: Final Data for 2007
• Deaths: Leading Causes for 2006
• Deaths, percent of total deaths, and death rates for the 15 leading causes of death: United States and each State
• Deaths: Final Data for 2007

Contact Us:

• National Center for Health Statistics
  3311 Toledo Rd
  Hyattsville, MD 20782
• 1 (800) 232-4636
• cdcinfo@cdc.gov

A Woman's Nation Takes on Alzheimer'

Maria Shriver : A Woman's Nation Takes on Alzheimer's

A Woman's Nation Takes on Alzheimer's is an in-depth look at women and Alzheimer's with Maria Shriver and Ann O'Leary (Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress)....

Alzheimer’s is an epidemic. Every minute or so someone in this country will develop Alzheimer’s. Millions of people already have been formally diagnosed. Millions more are undiagnosed—or diagnosed with some form of dementia that could actually be Alzheimer’s. And with the 78 million baby boomers now moving into their later years, the cost of Alzheimer’s to American society is expected to be $20 trillion between now and the year 2050. That’s right—$20 trillion. There’s no doubt about it. We are in the midst of a national emergency, and we’re woefully unprepared.

"

"I am pleased to say that Maria Shriver described herself as an Alzheimer's Activist in the video below. Nothing is going to change if we sit back. We all need to become activists in the effort to increase research funding and care funding for Alzheimer's disease."

This is important to families

that have been touched

by Alzheimer's disease.

Amplify’d from The alzheimers reading room

Alzheimer's Front Row|http://alzheimersfrontrow.blogspot.com/2010/10/maria-shriver-womans-nation-takes-on.html

By Bob DeMarco

Bette Davs