• Jie Liu, Suhang Shang, Pei Li, Meiying Deng, Chen Chen, Yu Jiang, Liangjun Dang, and Qiumin Qu.
• Department of Neurology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an, Jiao Tong University, Xi'an, China.
• Med Clin (Barc). 2017 Sep 8; 149 (5): 203-208.

BackgroundCigarette smoking is a modifiable risk factor for cognitive impairment, while the relationship between current smoking and cognitive impairment is not fully understood. The objectives were to identify a possible association between current smoking and cognitive impairment depending on age in the Chinese rural population.MethodsData for the study consisted of 1,782 participants (40 years and older) who lived in a rural village in the vicinity of Xi'an, China. Data about smoking history and cognitive function were collected. Cognitive function was scored by the Mini-Mental State Examination. The effect of age on the relationship between current smoking and cognitive impairment was analyzed with interaction and stratified analysis by logistic regression models.ResultsInteraction analysis showed that current smoking is positively related with cognitive impairment (odds ratio [OR]=9.067; 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.305-62.979; P=.026). However, the interaction term, age by current smoking, is negatively related with cognitive impairment (OR=0.969; 95%CI 0.939-0.999; P=.045). Stratified logistic regression showed that in the 40-65 years of age sublayer, OR of current smoking is 1.966 (P=.044), whereas in the>65 years of age sublayer, the OR is 0.470 (P=.130). This means that the association between current smoking and cognitive impairment with age might be positive (OR>1) in lower age sublayers, but no significant difference in higher age sublayers.ConclusionsIn conclusion, current smoking might be positively associated with cognitive impairment in the middle-aged but the relationship declines with increasing age.Copyright © 2017 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

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