Quitting Smoking Helps Maintain Better Long-Term Cognitive Health

TUESDAY, Oct. 21, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Quitting smoking may help adults maintain better cognitive health over the long term, according to a study published online Oct. 13 in The Lancet Healthy Longevity.

Mikaela Bloomberg, Ph.D., from University College London, and colleagues examined whether long-term cognitive trajectories improved following mid- to late-life smoking cessation. The analysis included data from 9,436 adults who smoked (4,718 who quit) participating in three nationally representative cohort studies from 12 countries, with 18 years of cognitive data (2002 to 2020).

The researchers found that in the six years before smoking cessation, matched smokers who quit and continuing smokers had similar rates of memory and fluency decline (difference in memory decline: P = 0.16; difference in fluency decline: P = 0.76). Smokers who quit had memory and fluency scores that declined more slowly than continuing smokers in the six years following smoking cessation (difference in memory decline: P = 0.036; difference in fluency decline: P = 0.030). Results did not differ by age at smoking cessation (P > 0.05 for all).

“This finding is especially important because middle-aged and older smokers are less likely to try to quit than younger groups, yet they disproportionately experience the harms of smoking,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “Evidence that quitting may support cognitive health could offer new compelling motivation for this group to try and quit smoking.”

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