Dementia Risk Gives Smokers Another Reason to Quit, Study Says

Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia are more likely to strike people who smoked heavily in their 50s and 60s than to afflict nonsmokers, a study found.

Among more than 21,000 people followed for 23 years, 25 percent were diagnosed with dementia at an average age of 81, the research found. Those who puffed two or more packs of cigarettes a day had more than twice the risk of dementia compared with nonsmokers, said authors from Finland and the U.S.