The authors assessed the association of smoking with dementia and cognitive decline in a meta-analysis of 19 prospective studies with at least 12 months of follow-up. Studies included a total of 26,374 participants followed for dementia for 2-30 years and 17,023 participants followed up for 2-7 years to assess cognitive decline. Mean study age was 74 years. Current smokers at baseline, relative to never smokers, had risks of 1.79 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.43, 2.23) for incident Alzheimer's disease, 1.78 (95% CI: 1.28, 2.47) for incident vascular dementia, and 1.27 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.60) for any dementia. Compared with those who never smoked, current smokers at baseline also showed greater yearly declines in Mini-Mental State Examination scores over the follow-up period (effect size (beta)=-0.13, 95% CI: -0.18, -0.08). Compared with former smokers, current smokers at baseline showed an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease (relative risk=1.70, 95% CI: 1.25, 2.31) and an increased decline in cognitive abilities (effect size (beta)=-0.07, 95% CI: -0.11, -0.03), but the groups were not different regarding risk of vascular dementia or any dementia. The authors concluded that elderly smokers have increased risks of dementia and cognitive decline.

Analysis 1.2. Comparison 1 BT/CBT versus waitlist or placebo, Outcome 2 Number with OCD at post treatment.. Analysis 1.3. Comparison 1 BT/CBT versus waitlist or placebo, Outcome 3 NIMH-GOCS at post treatment.. . Analysis 1.4. Comparison 1 BT/CBT versus waitlist or placebo, Outcome 4 Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement. Analysis 1.5. Comparison 1 BT/CBT versus waitlist or placebo, Outcome 5 Change in CY-BOCS prior to post.. . Analysis 2.1. Comparison 2 BT/CBT versus medication, Outcome 1 CY-BOCS score at post treatment.. .. . Analysis 2.2. Comparison 2 BT/CBT versus medication, Outcome 2 Number with OCD at post treatment.. .. Analysis 2.3. Comparison 2 BT/CBT versus medication, Outcome 3 NIMH-GOCS at post treatment.. .. . .

Numerous studies have reported an association between cognitive impairment and an increased risk for mortality. Most results are from large epidemiological studies and control for medical conditions that may relate to cognitive decline, as well as an increased mortality risk. The aim of this review was to evaluate the association between cognitive performance and mortality within patient samples of stroke, cancer, or coronary heart disease. After reviewing the PubMed literature for articles on stroke, cancer, and cardiovascular related illnesses, 47 longitudinal studies were identified that met the cognition/mortality search criteria. In general, the results demonstrated that within the clinical groups studied, cognitive performance and cognitive impairment both predict mortality, although results were less consistent for coronary heart disease. This study adds further support for the ubiquity of the association of cognitive performance with health outcomes and mortality. Optimizing health has implications for both cognitive performance and longevity.

Recent cross-sectional studies have reported strong associations between visual and cognitive function, and longitudinal studies have shown relationships between visual and cognitive decline in late life. Improvement in cognitive performance after cataract surgery has been reported in patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment. We investigated whether improving visual function with cataract surgery would improve neuropsychological performance in healthy older adults. A randomized clinical trial of cataract surgery performed at acute hospitals was conducted on 56 patients (mean age 73) with bilateral cataract, after excluding a total of 54 patients at the screening stage, of whom 53 did not meet visual acuity criteria and one did not have cataract. In-home assessments included visual and neuropsychological function, computerized cognitive testing and health questionnaires. Results showed no cognitive benefits of cataract surgery in cognitively normal adults. We conclude that visual improvement following cataract surgery is not strongly associated with an improvement in neuropsychological test performance in otherwise healthy adults. Joint associations between visual and cognitive function in late life are likely to be due to central factors, and unlikely to be strongly related to eye disease. Short-term increased neural stimulation from improved visual function does not appear to affect cognitive performance.

Gilmore (2007) argues that the use of ANCOVA in Anstey et al. (2006) is invalid. Based on quotes in Winer (1971), he claims that covariates cannot be used to adjust interaction terms involving within-subject variables. Because the within-subject variable in Anstey et al. (2006) is time, he concludes that the results involving Time × Group interaction coefficient are invalid and consequently all analyses need to be re-done.