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Home » Alcohol, Alzheimer's Disease, Cholesterol, Lifestyle, Medical Research, Prevention, Smoking, Substance Abuse

Smoke More, Drink More, Get Alzheimer’s Sooner

Submitted by admin on April 20, 2008 – 9:28 am6 Comments
 

A new study suggests that heavy smoking and drinking can hasten the onset of Alzheimer’s disease by several years.  Eliminating smoking and drinking are considered the two most important steps to preventing Alzheimer’s disease.

Alcohol, smoking may lead to early Alzheimer’s diseaseRanjan Duara, MD, of Mount Sinai Medical Center’s Wein Center for Alzheimer’s Disease in Miami Beach, Florida, led a team of researchers who say its possible to delay the onset of the disease by as long as five years, if people would reduce or eliminate heavy smoking and drinking habits.  Research suggests a five-year delay in the onset of Alzheimer’s would reduce the total Alzheimer’s population by almost half.

The researchers focused on three factors – smoking, drinking, and the APOE-4 gene variant – in a study that involved 938 people aged 60 and older who showed clinical signs of probable or possible Alzheimer’s disease.  The study participants were tested for the APOE-4 gene and their family members were polled to determine the smoking and drinking habits of the study participants.  The APOE-4 gene is associated with early onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

Heavy drinking (two or more beverages per day) accounted for 7% of the study group.  Heavy smoking (at least one pack of cigarettes per day) accounted for 20% of the study group.  The APOE-4 gene was present in 27% of the group.  When comparing these three risk factors to people who did not smoke, drink, or carry the APOE-4 gene, researchers found:

  • Heavy drinking hastened the onset of the disease by 4.8 years
  • Heavy smoking hastened the disease by 2.3 years
  • The APOE-4 gene hastened onset by 3 years
  • All three factors together hastened onset by 8.5 years

Only 17 people in the study were found to have all three risk factors.  They were 68.5 years old, on average, when they were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.  The 374 people in the study who exhibited none of these three risk factors were an average of 77 years old when they were diagnosed with the disease.

Duara, a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, presented his findings to that organization’s 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Chicago on April 16.

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