NEW YORK, Apr 19 (Reuters Health) -- In yet another indictment against cigarettes, results of a new study suggest that smoking into the golden years may put older men and women at greater risk for mental decline.

In a year-long study of more than 650 London residents aged 65 and older, researchers found that current smokers were about four times as likely to be in mental decline than ex-smokers and those who never smoked. When the researchers looked at alcohol consumption, however, they found no evidence that drinking affects mental abilities. Dr. Jorge A. Cervilla and his colleagues at the University of London, UK, report the study results in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. While smoking is linked to an array of health problems, from heart disease to cancer, some research in the 1980s suggested that lighting up actually protects against Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. But Cervilla and his colleagues suggest that these studies were flawed, and other researchers have disputed the findings. Study co-author Dr. Martin Prince told Reuters Health that ''these (earlier) findings were rather seized upon by tobacco companies,'' but more recent studies have ``turned the findings on their head.'' One study, he noted, showed that smokers were 1.5 times more likely than nonsmokers to develop Alzheimer's. In their study, the London researchers surveyed older adults on their smoking and drinking habits; they also looked at the study participants' education levels and occupations, and whether they had suffered from depression or disability before or after age 65. Participants' mental abilities were gauged with tests that focused on memory -- asking them, for instance, to name the British Prime Minister. The tests were repeated one year later. At the beginning of the study, about 10% of 654 people showed reduced mental faculties on the tests. Of the 451 who could be re-tested a year later, 7.5% were in mental decline; this, according to the researchers, adds up to a 6% increase in cases of mental impairment. The risk was far greater for current smokers, who, after other risk factors were considered, were four times more likely than others to be in mental decline. The damage smoking exacts upon blood vessels, according to Prince, may explain the habit's link to mental impairment. Smoking leads to hardening and narrowing of the arteries and can hinder oxygen carriage through the blood, he noted. Some of the ill effects on vessels improve after smokers quit, which, Prince added, may explain why ex-smokers in the study showed no increased risk for mental impairment. SOURCE: Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 2000;68:622-626.

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