Half were given a daily nicotine patch for six months, the other half wore a placebo patch. Those on nicotine therapy showed better results on cognitive tests for attention, memory, as well as how fast and consistently they could process information.
After six months on the patch, the nicotine group "regained 46 percent of normal performance for age on long-term memory, whereas the placebo group worsened by 26 percent over the same time period," said the study.
However, the study authors cautioned that older adults should not begin to smoke cigarettes to help their brain function, and said more research is needed to see if the positive effects endure over a long period of time.
Same old song and dance. Here's our data but don't pay attention to it- we might lose patients!
