Who would have thought in their wildest dreams that smoking may actually prove to be beneficial in certain ways! Well, scientists appeared to have gained new insight into the association between Parkinson’s disease and smoking. A new study alleges that smoking for more number of years may decrease the threat of the disease, but smoking a larger quantity of cigarettes each day may not cut down the danger.
The study included roughly 3,05,468 AARP members, age 50 to 71, who finished a survey on diet and lifestyle at the time and once more some 10 years afterward. During that time, roughly 1,662 of the people seemed to have contracted Parkinson’s disease.
“These results could guide the development of studies on various tobacco components with animal models to help understand the relationship between smoking and Parkinson’s disease. Research to reveal the underlying chemicals and mechanisms is warranted; such studies may lead to a better understanding of the causes of Parkinson’s disease. However, given the many adverse consequences of smoking, no one would suggest smoking in order to prevent Parkinson’s disease,” commented, study author Honglei Chen, MD, PhD, of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C.
It was seen that present smokers appeared to have 44 percent less chances to suffer from Parkinson’s disease as compared to people who had never smoked at all. People who had smoked formerly and quit were said to encompass 22 percent less odds to develop Parkinson’s as against who had never smoked in their life.
It was observed that individuals who had smoked for 40 or more years were said to be 46 percent less liable to have Parkinson’s disease when pitted against people who never smoked. Those who smoked for roughly 30 to 39 years were believed to have 35 percent less chances to have the disease as opposed to nonsmokers. On the contrary, those who smoked for 1 to 9 years were only thought to be 8 percent less probable to be infected with the disease.
The threat of contracting Parkinson’s disease did not seem to alter based on how many cigarettes an individual smoked each day.
Chen is of the opinion that studies have apparently illustrated that smoking may not be linked to a slower progression of the disease once Parkinson’s develops or a decreased risk of death, so he believes there seems to be no proof to support the use of nicotine or other smoking-related chemicals in treating the disease.
The study was published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.