Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Smoking history and Alzheimer’s disease risk in a community‑based clinic population

Authors

. Erin K. Saito 1
. Natalie Diaz 2
. Julia Chung 3
. Aaron McMurtray 2

1 Neurology Division, Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute

2 Neurology Division, Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute,Neurology

3 Psychiatry Division, Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, Departments of Psychiatry, Harbor‑UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, Departments of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90509, USA

Abstract
BACKGROUND: The relationship between cigarette smoking and development of Alzheimer’s
disease (AD) is not fully determined, and previous reports disagree, with some studies suggesting
an increased relative risk and others a decreased odds ratio. Consequently, we wanted to determine
if the prevalence of past cigarette smoking observed in a community‑based clinic sample of patients
with AD would be more consistent with the expected value obtained from a model using either an
increased relative risk or a decreased odds ratio to estimate the effect of smoking on development
of AD.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective cross‑sectional analysis of all patients treated for AD
in a community‑based Neurology Clinic during a 2‑year period. Estimates of expected past smoking
prevalence were calculated based on published values for either an increased relative risk or a
decreased odds ratio and compared to the past smoking prevalence observed in the clinic sample.
RESULTS: The observed past smoking prevalence in the clinic population was 29.17%.
The expected past smoking prevalence calculated using the increased relative risk was
30.07% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 27.67–32.32%), and using the decreased odds ratio was
12.54% (95% CI = 6.32–24.81%).
CONCLUSION: The observed past smoking prevalence among the patients being treated for AD
in a community‑based clinic falls within the expected 95% CI for the increased relative risk model
and outside of the expected 95% CI for the decreased odds ratio model. These results support
the contention that the relationship between cigarette smoking and development of AD is the best
characterized by an increased relative risk.

Keywords

Alzheimer’s disease
dementia
epidemiology
smoking
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 7, Issue 2
May and June 2017
Pages 1-4

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