Effect of Smoking in Cognition

Introduction: Smokers claim that smoking increases their concentration, alertness, and overall mental performance. On the contrary, evidences point at gradual cognitive deterioration in smokers. Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) assesses even mild cognitive impairment. Objective: To determine and compare the cognitive status in smokers and healthy controls. Method and Materials: A cross-sectional comparative study was done in 46 apparently healthy male healthscience students (23 smokers and 23 nonsmokers) at Pulmonary Function Lab in the Department of Basic and Clinical Physiology, BPKIHS. Pulmonary function tests (PFT) were measured. For cognition assessment MoCA, which is a set of close ended questionnaire was used. To assess smoking status and MoCA score, Mann Whitney U test was employed and data are expressed in median and IQR. Fisher’s Exact Chi-square Test was applied to observe association between smoking and cognition. Level of significance was p<0.05. Results: All PFT variables, compared between smokers and non-smokers yielded non-significant differences (VC: 3.97 (3.53-4.76) vs. 4.26 (3.83-4.66) p=0.709; FEV1: 3.81 (3.47-4.71) vs. 4.17 (3.58-4.44) p=0.775; FEV1/FVC: 98.09 (95.72-99.09) vs. 95.3 (92.5-98.2) p=0.202). The comparison of MoCA score between the two groups (26(25-27) vs. 27(26-28) p=0.192 as well as the association between smoking and cognition was non-significant. Conclusion: Young healthy smokers without any pulmonary function abnormalities had cognition state similar to non-smokers. Therefore, there is no association of smoking on cognition in apparently healthy young adults.