The
World Health Organization (WHO) and Alzheimer’s Disease
International (ADI) in its latest report highlighted the serious
risk that tobacco use creates for dementia.
The Key Message is:
▪ Smoking is a risk
factor for dementia, and quitting could reduce the dementia burden.
▪ Second-hand smoke exposure may also
increase the risk of dementia.
▪ 14% of Alzheimer’s disease cases worldwide
are potentially attributed to smoking.
▪ As no treatments are currently available to
cure or alter the progressive course of dementia, it is essential to identify
modifiable risk factors for reducing the occurrence of the disease, delaying
its onset or reducing its burden.
▪ Governments should actively implement and
enforce the measures of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control,
especially smoke-free environment laws and systematic access to tobacco
cessation services.
Geneva, 09 July 2014:
Smokers have a 45% higher risk of developing
dementia than non-smokers, according to information published today by the
World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with Alzheimer’s Disease
International (ADI).
Evidence
reviewed by WHO reveals a strong link between smoking and the risk of dementia,
and the more a person smokes, the higher the risk. It is estimated that 14% of
Alzheimer’s disease cases worldwide are potentially attributable to smoking.
WHO
warns that exposure to second-hand smoke (passive smoking) may also increase
the risk of dementia.
"Since
there is currently no cure for dementia, public health interventions need to
focus on prevention by changing modifiable risk factors like smoking,” says Dr
Shekhar Saxena, Director of the Department for Mental Health and Substance
Abuse at WHO. “This research shows that a decrease in smoking now is likely to
result in a substantial decrease in the burden of dementia in the years to
come."
Tobacco
use is already recognized as the one risk factor common to four main groups of
non-communicable diseases (NCDs): cancers, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung
disease and diabetes.
“Tobacco is one of
the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing nearly six
million people a year,” says Dr Douglas Bettcher, Director of the Department
for Prevention of Non-communicable Diseases at WHO. “WHO urges governments to actively implement and enforce the measures of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, especially smoke-free environment laws and access to tobacco cessation services”.
Laurent Huber, Director of the Framework Convention Alliance (FCA) for Tobacco Control, comments: “It is no surprise to see these findings confirm that tobacco smoking is a major risk factor for dementia. This adds yet another item to the long list of the devastating consequences of tobacco and gives even more reason for personal and public health action to help people to quit smoking.”
“The research also shows that quitting smoking later in life might be beneficial so encouraging and supporting current tobacco users to quit should be a priority,” says Serge Gauthier, chair of the ADI’s Medical Scientific Advisory Panel.
Dementia affects more than 44 million people worldwide, with almost two thirds of them living in low- and middle-income countries.
“Every year, there are 7.7 million new cases of dementia. In 2010, the global cost was calculated at US$ 604 billion, which represents 1% of global GDP (gross domestic product),” says Marc Wortmann, ADI Executive Director. “No government can ignore the opportunity to link this new information into its planning and health system activities to reduce smoking and control NCDs.”
ADI believes that this information brief can form the basis for countries to add messages about brain health and dementia risk into public health anti-smoking programs and interventions.
For further information:
Click on -> Tobacco Use and Dementia
Visit : http://www.who.int/tobacco/publications/en/
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