New York: Smoking in middle age increases the risk of developing dementia by nearly 75%, a new study from the US claims.
IResearchers at Minnesota University found smokers aged between 46 and 70 were at least 70 per cent more likely to suffer from Alzheimers in later years than those who had never smoked.
The study, published in the medical magazine, the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, also revealed the links between lifestyle-factor diseases, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, and dementia.
People with high blood pressure, for example, were 60 per cent more likely to develop dementia while people with diabetes had more than double the risk of the same disease.
Lead research Dr Alvaro Alonso, said: Our results emphasise the importance of early lifestyle modification and risk factor treatment to prevent dementia.