In the run-up to UK No Smoking Day on March 8, a top North East NHS consultant has warned of the connection between lighting up a fag and dementia - and said it's especially vital that people in middle-age stop smoking now.
Dr Charlotte Allan - lead consultant at the Newcastle memory assessment and management service - told ChronicleLive how it was concerning that only one in five people knew the link between cigarettes and dementia. Speaking as part of a renewed push from campaign group Fresh to encourage people to ditch smoking, Dr Allan highlighted how people in the 40s and 50s should stop now to reduce their dementia risk.
Dr Allan said this was a key thing people worried about developing dementia could do to reduce their risk. They can do this by staying active and keeping their brains busy - but kicking the smoking habit will also stop the scary impact the chemicals involved can cause.
Dr Allan said: "I have been working in the memory service in Newcastle for more than five years. We are really committed to improving support for people with dementia across the city and we also see the impact it has on patients and their families. We want to do anything we can to raise awareness of the links between smoking and dementia - and to encourage people to stop smoking.
"I don’t think many people are aware that smoking can increase the risk of dementia, but people certainly do worry about what it might be like to lose their memory, to need more support and to have to rely on other people.
"When people smoke, the poisons in tobacco smoke circulate around the body, and these damage blood vessels and harm our brain over time. Smoking causes inflammation and stress to the cells within the brain, which can kill off brain cells, and that increases the chance of dementia.
"It is really important that we raise awareness of the things that can reduce our risk of dementia. Quitting smoking at any age is going to help your overall health and it’s going to help reduce the risk of dementia."
Dr Allan explained that most referrals to the memory service - which run by the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust - come through GPs. She added that one of the first things medics did was to consider risk factors, including if someone was a smoker.
She said: "A lot of people will have dementia, but we are also seeing a rising number of people who have experienced mild cognitive changes. It's not dementia, that's good, but there are some changes. And it's particularly those people we are targeting and saying: If you smoke, it'd be really beneficial to stop and reduce your risk.
"The imperative for us is to reach people who are much younger. We see people in their 70s and 80s and 90s who are much older and becoming ill, but for us we want to reach people who are smoking in mid-life and don't know they are increasing their risk of dementia later on."
This comes as the charity Alzheimer's Research UK has found dementia is the most feared health condition for people over the age of 55. Fresh's campaign ahead of No Smoking Day - March 8 - is backed by experts like Dr Allan from the region's mental health NHS trusts.
Ailsa Rutter, Director of Fresh and Balance, said: “Brain health is something we can all relate to. Nobody wants to develop dementia or see their loved ones suffer so it’s important that people know the link between smoking and dementia. Smoking remains one of our biggest causes of death, disease, hospital admissions and health inequalities in the North East, killing 113,000 people in the region since the year 2000."
Fresh can help point you in the direction of free advice and support on how to stop smoking from freshquit.co.uk.
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