Impact of smoking on neurodegeneration and cerebrovascular disease markers in cognitively normal men.
OBJECTIVE
Smoking is a major risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia. However, the exact pathobiology of smoking remains unknown. The effects of smoking on cortical thickness as a biomarker of neurodegeneration or white matter hyperintensities and lacunes as biomarkers of cerebrovascular burden were concurrently evaluated.


METHODS
Our study included 977 cognitively normal men who visited a health promotion centre and underwent medical check-ups, including 3.0 T magnetic resonance imaging. Participants were categorized into never smoker, past smoker or current smoker groups and pack-years and the years of smoking cessation were used as continuous variables.


RESULTS
The current smoker group exhibited cortical thinning in frontal and temporo-parietal regions compared with the never smoker group. These effects were particularly prominent in smokers with a high cumulative exposure to smoking in the current smoker group. However, there was no association between smoking and the severity of white matter hyperintensity or number of lacunes.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings indicate that smoking might impact on neurodegeneration rather than cerebrovascular burdens in cognitively normal men, suggesting that smoking might be an important modifiable risk factor for the development of Alzheimer's disease.
Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Centre, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.|Department of Neurology, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
H
H
Cho
Department of Preventive Medicine and the Institute for Environmental Research, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
C
C
Kim
Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Centre, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
H J
HJ
Kim
Department of Neurology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
B S
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0187-8440
BS
Ye
Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Centre, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Y J
YJ
Kim
Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Centre, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
N-Y
NY
Jung
Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Centre, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
T O
TO
Son
Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Centre, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
E B
EB
Cho
Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Centre, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
H
H
Jang
Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Centre, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
J
J
Lee
Centre for Health Promotion, Samsung Medical Centre, Seoul, Korea.
M
M
Kang
Centre for Health Promotion, Samsung Medical Centre, Seoul, Korea.
H-Y
HY
Shin
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea.
S
S
Jeon
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea.
J-M
JM
Lee
Radiology, Samsung Medical Centre, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
S T
ST
Kim
Department of Neurology, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Y-C
YC
Choi
Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Centre, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.|Neuroscience Centre, Samsung Medical Centre, Seoul, Korea.|Department of Clinical Research Design and Evaluation, SAIHST, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea.
D L
DL
Na
Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Centre, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.|Neuroscience Centre, Samsung Medical Centre, Seoul, Korea.|Department of Clinical Research Design and Evaluation, SAIHST, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea.
S W
SW
Seo
D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced*; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology*
D015415:Biomarkers
Alzheimer's disease; cerebrovascular disease; cortical thickness; dementia; lacunes; neurodegeneration; smoking; white matter hyperintensities