Smoking Cessation Reduces Dementia Risk, But Weight Gain May Attenuate Benefit

Dementia represents a substantial and growing global health challenge, and identifying effective prevention strategies is a clinical priority [1, 2]. While addressing modifiable risk factors in mid-life is a recognized approach to mitigating later-life cognitive decline, the precise long-term effects of smoking cessation on dementia have remained an area of investigation [3]. Smoking is a well-established risk factor for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, but it has been unclear how the common post-cessation consequence of weight gain might influence this risk trajectory, creating a critical knowledge gap for clinicians counseling patients [1, 4, 5, 6].