The AANP has released this information today regarding the link between passive smoke exposure and brain disorders:
AANP – Passive Smoke Linked To Dementia And Alzheimer’s – (Monday, January 14, 2013) –Scientists have found a link between passive smoking and syndromes of dementia, and another study also found links between passive smoking and Alzheimer’s disease. (Passive smoking, also called second-hand smoke, environmental tobacco smoke or ETS, causes serious cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including coronary heart disease and lung cancer. ETS has been linked to cognitive impairment, but it has been uncertain whether ETS increases the risk of dementia. Recent data show that over 50 percent of people are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke on a daily basis. China also has the highest rate of both smoking and dementia worldwide.) International researchers in China, UK and USA found that the higher risk of dementia due to ETS is similar to the level of higher risk of coronary heart disease due to ETS, suggesting that some action on ETS avoidance is urgent to attenuate a dementia epidemic among aging populations. Severe dementia was significantly related to exposure level and duration of passive smoking. This study was published in the January 2013 issue of the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
