Exposure to Secondhand Smoking Damages Memory: Study

A statement from the city’s health department says a bill unveiled by New York’s Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on 18 March requires tobacco products to be kept out of sight from customers. (Photo : Reuters)

People who live with smokers might be at a great risk. According to the researchers from the Northumbria University, non-smokers who spend more time with smokers or live with them are at a high risk of damaging their memory.

This study is being carried in the online edition of the journal Addiction.

This is the first study that explores the relationship between exposure to other people's smoke and everyday memory problems.

The study was conducted by Dr. Tom Heffernan and Dr. Terence O'Neil, both researchers at the Collaboration for Drug and Alcohol Research Group at Northumbria University.

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For the study, researchers compared a group of current smokers with two groups of non-smokers. The two groups consisted of those who were regularly exposed to secondhand smoke and those who were not.

They noticed that the people who were exposed to secondhand smoking either lived with smokers or spent time with smokers, for example in a designated "smoking area", and reported being exposed to secondhand smoke for an average of 25 hours a week, for an average of four and a half years.

The subjects in the group were tested on time-based memory and event-based memory.

On analyzing the groups, they noticed that non-smokers who had been exposed to secondhand smoke forgot almost 20 percent more in the memory tests when compared to non-smokers who were not exposed. However, both groups out-performed the current smokers who forgot 30 percent more than those who were not exposed to secondhand smoking.

Dr Heffernan said: "According to recent reports by the World Health Organization, exposure to second-hand smoke can have serious consequences on the health of people who have never smoked themselves, but who are exposed to other people's tobacco smoke."

"Our findings suggest that the deficits associated with second-hand smoke exposure extend to everyday cognitive function. We hope our work will stimulate further research in the field in order to gain a better understanding of the links between exposure to second-hand smoke, health problems and everyday cognitive function."