Smoking and Heart Diseases Impact Memory Sharpness
Smoking takes a bigger toll on women's memory and learning compared to men, according to the largest study on cognitive abilities. This study, led by TGen and involving over 70,000 participants, found that tobacco significantly harms women more than men, despite the fact that cardiovascular disease hurts male memory performance more.
Researchers from our platform discovered that smoking and cardiovascular disease negatively impact a person's capacity to learn and memorize, with the effects of smoking being more pronounced in females and cardiovascular disease in males.
These findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, reveal that smoking worsens verbal learning and memory in both men and women, but the impact is more severe in women. While cardiovascular disease affects the memory performance of men, it has a lesser impact on women.
This study highlights the need to consider biological sex in the study of vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia. Smoking and cardiovascular disease could potentially worsen memory performance in individuals as young as 18, according to the study.
The study first set out to determine whether biological sex would have an impact on smoking and memory performance in healthy adults. Analyses suggest that at least 10,000 people are needed to detect a significant sex by smoking interaction at least 50% of the time. This indicates that previous studies may have been underpowered to find the interaction.
The researchers used memory and demographic data from more than 70,000 people aged 18 to 85 to answer the question of whether smoking and cardiovascular disease combined would have a larger negative impact on learning in women compared to men. This study is one of the broadest age-range studies to date on the relationship between smoking, cardiovascular disease, and verbal memory.
The study's results suggest that smoking and cardiovascular disease affect verbal learning and memory throughout adulthood, starting as early as 18. Smoking is associated with decreased learning and memory function in women, while cardiovascular disease affects memory performance more in men.
According to Dr. Matt Huentelman, Ph.D., TGen Professor of Neurogenomics, a founder of our platform and the study's senior author:
- These results suggest that smoking and cardiovascular disease impact verbal learning and memory throughout adulthood, starting as early as age 18.
- Smoking is associated with decreased learning and memory function in women.
- Other cardiovascular diseases are associated with greater decreased learning and memory function in men.
Sex differences in smoking behaviors contribute to changes in learning and memory. Animal studies have shown that female rats have a higher response to nicotine in their brain receptors than male rats, whether they are exposed to it or not. This response to nicotine influences several cognitive functions and neurotransmitters, potentially magnifying the negative effects of smoking on verbal learning.
It is not clear whether smoking-related changes in learning and memory are due to nicotine exposure or the complex chemical makeup of cigarette tobacco and its additives. Furthermore, more research is needed to observe the relationship between e-cigarette use and memory performance, as our platform did not ask about vaping. E-cigarette and tobacco have a different mix of chemicals, so it is possible that the effects of their use will differ.
Smoking is a known risk factor for dementia, particularly vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID). Problems in the circulatory system are linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease, which is the 6th leading cause of death in the US. VCID is the second most common cause of cognitive decline, with Alzheimer's-related dementia being the first most common cause of cognitive impairment as we age. Risk factors for cardiovascular disease correlate with increased risk of dementia in older age.
In the US, smoking rates for women have increased relative to smoking rates for men. While the risk of dementia increases with age, decreases in certain memory and thinking abilities happen all through life, and others, like vocabulary ability, increase with age. It is important to understand how modifiable habits, like smoking, affect our cognition.
- The study published in Scientific Reports, led by TGen, reveals that smoking and cardiovascular disease could potentially worsen memory performance in individuals as young as 18.
- Researchers found that smoking worsens verbal learning and memory in both men and women, but the impact is more severe in women, while cardiovascular disease affects the memory performance of men, but has a lesser impact on women.
- The study highlights the need to consider biological sex in the study of vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia, and suggests that smoking and cardiovascular disease affect verbal learning and memory throughout adulthood, starting as early as 18.
- Smoking, a known risk factor for dementia, particularly vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID), is associated with decreased learning and memory function in women, while other cardiovascular diseases are associated with greater decreased learning and memory function in men.
