Slow down Alzheimer’s: No smoking and No drinking

William Atkins
Thursday, 08 May 2008 06:46

Science - Health

A Florida study led by Ranjan Durara states that heavy drinking and heavy smoking make Alzheimer’s disease appear, on average, about 8.5 years earlier.


Dr. Duara is a medical doctor associated with the Wein Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders at the Mount Sinai Medical Center (Miami Beach, Florida, U.S.A.).

Duara led a team of researchers in finding an association between the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and heavy smoking and drinking habits.

The Duara team concentrated on 938 subjects—who were 60 years of age or older and showed clinical signs of probable or possible Alzheimer’s disease—with regards to their smoking and drinking habits.

They also looked at the APOE-4 gene variant within these same subjects, which is generally present in people who get Alzheimer’s disease at a relatively early age.

(APOE is an abbreviation for Apolipoprotein E, and the APOE-4 gene variant is one of three versions of the APOE protein, each of which contains very small differences with respect to a specific gene, although the gene is still related among the three types.).

The subjects were tested with respect to the APOE-4 gene variant and family members of the subjects were questioned to find out the smoking and drinking habits of the subjects.

Seven percent of the subjects were considered heavy drinkers (two or more beverages per day). Twenty percent of the subjects were considered heavy smokers (a minimum of one pack of cigarettes per day).

Only two percent of the subjects had all three factors: heavy drinking, heavy smoking, and presence of APOE-4. About forty percent of the subjects possessed none of the three factors.

When compared to subjects who did not smoke, drink or carry the APOE-4 gene, the researchers discovered that:

Heavy drinking increased the onset of Alzheimer’s disease by 4.8 years.

Heavy smoking increased the onset Alzheimer’s disease by 2.3 years.

Carrying the APOE-4 gene increased the onset of Alzheimer’s disease by 3.0 years.

When all three factors were possessed by the subjects, the onset of Alzheimer’s disease was increased by 8.5 years.

Specifically, those with all three factors were 68.5 years old, on average, when diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. However, the subjects that showed none of the factors were 77.0 years old, on average, when diagnosed with Alzheimer’s—a difference of 8.5 years.

The conclusion of the study was presented by Duara, at the sixtieth annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Chicago, Illinois, United States on April 16, 2008.