Vascular Causes of Dementia
Smoking Facts About Cerebral Atherosclerosis Disease

Vascular causes of dementia include cerebral atherosclerosis disease.

Smoking facts reveal that hardening of the arteries is one of the main effects of smoking cigarettes and accounts for almost 40 percent of all dementia cases.

Cerebral atherosclerosis or any other condition that prevents normal blood flow to the brain will affect the ability of the brain to function normally.

Without a good supply of blood, brain cells cannot obtain the oxygen they need to work correctly.

One of the most common signs of poor oxygen supply to the brain is a decline in cognitive functioning. This most often shows up with poor memory and confusion about time, place, and people.

These effects of poor oxygen supply to the brain may be temporary if blood supply is restored quickly but with cerebral atherosclerosis disease as a result of the effects of smoking cigarettes, the lack of oxygen becomes more chronic and brain cells die.

Is Smoking One of the Cures or Causes of Dementia?

There are two main pieces of smoking fiction that need to be clarified. Smoking Fiction #1 - Smoking improves cognition. Smoking Fiction #2 - Dementia is part of the aging process.

Facts on Smoking Fiction #1

Early studies that showed the effects of nicotine were protective in relation to brain function have now been shown to be flawed.

The tobacco companies latched onto these early research results of course, thinking that they finally would have something positive to say about the effects of cigarette smoking. But it all turned out to be pure smoking fiction!

Any of the known effects of nicotine in improving reaction time, learning and memory are countered by the known harmful effects of smoking cigarettes on vascular health and brain circulation. It doesn't matter how much nicotine you deliver to brain cells to whip them into action if they do not get enough oxygen it will do no good!

Facts on Smoking Fiction #2

A decline in cognitive ability is not a normal part of aging. While there are some changes in reaction time and the speed of information processing as the brain ages, losing the ability to remember and problem solve is not normal and is a consequence of pathological changes in the brain.

There is now good evidence to suggest that the long term effects of smoking cigarettes can contribute to and even exacerbate some of these changes making the probability of dementia more likely in the smoking population.

A recent review of medical records by Kaiser Permanente revealed some interesting results that indicate the relationship between smoking and dementia is very strong.

The study was conducted using the medical records of an ethnically diverse group of people including both men and women.

"Researchers found that associations with the development of the disease are more modest among smokers who use up fewer than two packs a day, but still significant. Those who smoked a half-pack to one pack a day had an overall 37 percent elevated risk of dementia, and those who smoked between one and two packs had a 44 percent heightened risk, compared to non-smokers."

Facts on Smoking and Causes of Dementia

So the body of evidence that suggests that smoking is one of the causes of dementia is growing. Smoking contributes to both the vascular dementias and the Alzheimer's type.

The difficulties with conducting research on cognition in the smoking population is finding a population of elderly smokers that do not have other confounding medical conditions. Healthy elderly smokers are few in number. Most have died or are already diagnosed with other smoking related diseases that may affect circulation to the brain.

However, more and more studies are now leading researchers to make a conclusion similar to this one:

"Current smoking increases risk of Alzheimer's disease and may increase risk of other dementias. This reinforces need for smoking cessation, particularly aged 65 and over. Nicotine alone needs further investigation."

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