Longstanding smoking associated with frontal brain lobe atrophy: a 32-year follow-up study in women

To examine the association between midlife tobacco smoking and late-life brain atrophy and white matter lesions.

The study includes 369 women from the Prospective Population Study of Women in Gothenburg, Sweden. Cigarette smoking was reported at baseline 1968 (mean age=44 years) and at follow-up in 1974-1975 and 1980-1981. CT of the brain was conducted 32 years after baseline examination (mean age=76 years) to evaluate cortical atrophy and white matter lesions. Multiple logistic regressions estimated associations between midlife smoking and late-life brain lesions. The final analyses were adjusted for alcohol consumption and several other covariates.

Smoking in 1968-1969 (adjusted OR 1.85; 95% CI 1.12 to 3.04), in 1974-1975 (OR 2.37; 95% CI 1.39 to 4.04) and in 1980-1981 (OR 2.47; 95% CI 1.41 to 4.33) were associated with late-life frontal lobe atrophy (2000-2001). The strongest association was observed in women who reported smoking at all three midlife examinations (OR 2.63; 95% CI 1.44 to 4.78) and in those with more frequent alcohol consumption (OR 6.02; 95% CI 1.74 to 20.84). Smoking in 1980-1981 was also associated with late-life parietal lobe atrophy (OR 1.99; 95% CI 1.10 to 3.58). There were no associations between smoking and atrophy in the temporal or occipital lobe, or with white matter lesions.

Longstanding tobacco smoking was mainly associated with atrophy in the frontal lobe cortex. A long-term stimulation of nicotine receptors in the frontal neural pathway might be harmful for targeted brain cell.