Sex-related and tissue-specific effects of tobacco smoking on brain atrophy: assessment in a large longitudinal cohort of healthy elderly

Quentin Duriez, Fabrice Crivello, Bernard Mazoyer
Front. Aging Neurosci.. 2014-11-03; 6:
DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2014.00299

PubMed
Read on PubMed



1. Front Aging Neurosci. 2014 Nov 3;6:299. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2014.00299.
eCollection 2014.

Sex-related and tissue-specific effects of tobacco smoking on brain atrophy:
assessment in a large longitudinal cohort of healthy elderly.

Duriez Q(1), Crivello F(1), Mazoyer B(1).

Author information:
(1)Life Sciences, University of Bordeaux, Neurofunctional Imaging Group (GIN)
UMR5296 Bordeaux, France ; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique,
Neurofunctional Imaging Group (GIN) UMR5296 Bordeaux, France ; Commisariat à
l’Energie Atomique, Neurofunctional Imaging Group (GIN) UMR5296 Bordeaux, France.

We investigated the cross-sectional and longitudinal effects of tobacco smoking
on brain atrophy in a large cohort of healthy elderly participants (65-80 years).
MRI was used for measuring whole brain (WB), gray matter (GM), white matter (WM),
and hippocampus (HIP) volumes at study entry time (baseline, N = 1451), and the
annualized rates of variation of these volumes using a 4-year follow-up MRI in a
subpart of the cohort (N = 1111). Effects of smoking status (never, former, or
current smoker) at study entry and of lifetime tobacco consumption on these brain
phenotypes were studied using sex-stratified AN(C)OVAs, including other health
parameters as covariates. At baseline, male current smokers had lower GM, while
female current smokers had lower WM. In addition, female former smokers exhibited
reduced baseline HIP, the reduction being correlated with lifetime tobacco
consumption. Longitudinal analyses demonstrated that current smokers, whether men
or women, had larger annualized rates of HIP atrophy, as compared to either non
or former smokers, independent of their lifetime consumption of tobacco. There
was no effect of smoking on the annualized rate of WM loss. In all cases,
measured sizes of these tobacco-smoking effects were of the same order of
magnitude than those of age, and larger than effect sizes of any other covariate.
These results demonstrate that tobacco smoking is a major factor of brain aging,
with sex- and tissue specific effects, notably on the HIP annualized rate of
atrophy after the age of 65.

DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2014.00299
PMCID: PMC4217345
PMID: 25404916

Know more about