Smoking and cognitive functioning at older ages: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study

TitleSmoking and cognitive functioning at older ages: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2015
AuthorsAyyagari, P, Kessler, AS
JournalJournal of the Economics of Ageing
Volume6
Pagination13
KeywordsDemographics, Health Conditions and Status, Methodology
Abstract

It has long been established that smoking has detrimental health effects on the human body and leads to early mortality. However, the evidence regarding the link between smoking behavior and cognitive function in old age is mixed. While nicotine has been shown to improve cognitive functioning in some medical studies, current smokers typically perform worse than non-smokers on cognitive tests in population based studies. We use the Health and Retirement Study to evaluate the role of unobserved factors in explaining these conflicting findings. Results from individual fixed effects models show that much of the lower cognitive function of current and former smokers relative to never smokers can be attributed to unobserved differences between these groups.

URLhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212828X15000183
DOI10.1016/j.jeoa.2015.06.001
Endnote Keywords

Smoking/Fixed effects models/Cognitive functioning/Older adults

Endnote ID

999999

Citation Key8259