Smoking linked to cognitive decline among older adults, says study

The study, published in Nature Communications, analysed data from 32,000 adults aged 50 or over from 14 European countries who responded to surveys over 10 years.

The researchers investigated how rates of cognitive decline might differ among cognitively healthy older adults with different combinations of health-related behaviours, including smoking, physical activity, alcohol consumption and social contact.

Mikaela Bloomberg, lead author and a research fellow in the Department of Behavioural Science and Health, said, “Our study is observational, so it cannot definitively establish cause and effect, but it suggests smoking might be a particularly important factor influencing the rate of cognitive ageing.

“Previous evidence suggests individuals who engage in more healthy behaviours have slower cognitive decline; however, it was unclear whether all behaviours contributed equally to cognitive decline or if there were specific behaviours driving these results.”