Cigarette smoking and cognitive health in elderly Japanese.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the relationships between smoking status and various domains of cognitive function in community-dwelling elderly subjects.


METHODS
Participants (N = 4348) were asked about smoking status, demographic variables, and lifestyle factors, and underwent multidimensional neurocognitive tests.


RESULTS
All analyses were conducted separately by sex. Women never smokers exhibited significantly better scores than past and/or current smokers in some neurocognitive tests. Among men, never smokers had significantly higher scores, such as in the Symbol Digit Substitution Test. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that pack-years (history of smoking) were significantly associated with the Symbol Digit Substitution Test in men.


CONCLUSIONS
Smoking status may be associated with a decline in processing speed, and this decline varies by sex.
Department of Functioning Activation, Center for Gerontology and Social Science, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Aichi, Japan;, Email: ryo-h@ncgg.go.jp.
Ryo
R
Hotta
Department of Functioning Activation, Center for Gerontology and Social Science, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Aichi, Japan.
Takehiko
T
Doi
Department of Functioning Activation, Center for Gerontology and Social Science, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Aichi, Japan.
Hiroyuki
H
Shimada
Department of Functioning Activation, Center for Gerontology and Social Science, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Aichi, Japan.
Hyuma
H
Makizako
Department of Functioning Activation, Center for Gerontology and Social Science, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Aichi, Japan.
Daisuke
D
Yoshida
Department of Functioning Activation, Center for Gerontology and Social Science, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Aichi, Japan.
Yuya
Y
Anan
Department of Functioning Activation, Center for Gerontology and Social Science, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Aichi, Japan.
Kota
K
Tsutsumimoto
Institution of Innovation for Future Society, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.
Kazuki
K
Uemura
Research Institute, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Aichi, Japan.
Hyuntae
H
Park
Research Institute, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Aichi, Japan.
Takao
T
Suzuki
D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000453:epidemiology*