medical studies

Ex-Smokers have higher diabetes risk

People who quit smoking sometimes gain weight, and a new study finds that former smokers may face an increased risk of developing diabetes as a result.

Smoking itself is a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes, but the risk is even higher for former smokers within the first six years of quitting, according to a study from Hsin-Chieh Yeh of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and colleagues. Recent quitters have a 70% increased risk of diabetes, researchers found.

The risks were highest in the first three years after quitting, but returned to normal 10 years later.

Lung Cancer Genes Identified

Smokers are much more likely to develop lung cancer than non-smokers — that has been a scientific truism for decades. But what about the majority of smokers who don't develop lung cancer? Are they just the lucky ones? What about non-smokers who do develop the disease? New studies suggest that the lung cancer explanation may lie in genes.

Nicotinic receptors as CNS targets for Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is a debilitating neurodegenerative movement disorder characterized by damage to the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system. Current therapies are symptomatic only and may be accompanied by serious side effects. There is therefore a continual search for novel compounds for the treatment of Parkinson's disease symptoms, as well as to reduce or halt disease progression. Nicotine administration has been reported to improve motor deficits that arise with nigrostriatal damage in parkinsonian animals and in Parkinson's disease.

Smoking, nicotine and Parkinson's disease

Epidemiologic evidence has suggested a negative association between cigarette smoking and the risk of Parkinson's disease. Although many of the studies had limitations, in aggregate they suggest that smoking may actually be a protective exposure. Other lines of evidence support this view, especially animal data indicating a dopaminergic effect of smoking on the brain.

Cigarette smoking and protection from Parkinson's disease: false association or etiologic clue?

We reviewed 46 published reports associating cigarette smoking and Parkinson's disease. Although the majority indicated an approximate halving of smoking frequency in persons with Parkinson's disease, many observers have suggested that the effect could be a spurious result.

The "protective" influence of cigarette smoking on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Quagmire or opportunity for neuroepidemiology?

The negative association between smoking and both Alzheimer's (AD) and Parkinson's (PD) diseases is a consistent epidemiologic finding. This observation has prompted many investigators to conclude that cigarette smoking must be "biologically protective" against AD and PD. Rather than suggesting some as-yet-undefined pathogenetic clue, however, this negative association more likely is indicative of the under-appreciated influence of differential survival in epidemiologic studies.

Department of Neurology, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, USA.

Smoking and Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease: review of the epidemiological studies

The relationship between smoking and neurological diseases has always been controversial. Even the expected association between smoking and increased risk for cerebrovascular disease has been debated for years.

It was at the end of the 1980s that smoking became definitively accepted as a risk factor for ischemic stroke. More recently, two other neurological diseases have been studied in relation to smoking: Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Smoking and Alzheimer's disease: a review of the epidemiological evidence

Overall evidence from 19 case-control studies of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and smoking shows a highly significant (p < 0.001) negative association [ever/never smokers, relative risk (RR) 0.64, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.54-0.76].

Some studies have apparent design faults but the association is clearly evident in those which do not (RR 0.60, 95% CI 0.46-0.78).

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