Health
Quitting smoking could offer a major benefit beyond heart and lung health, study finds
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People who quit smoking may reduce their risk of developing dementia later in life, according to new research.
A team of researchers at a university in China analyzed data from more than 32,000 adults over a 25-year period and found that former smokers had a lower risk of dementia compared to people who continued smoking.
The findings were published in the journal Neurology.
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During the study period, researchers documented 5,868 cases of dementia.
Participants who quit smoking during the study had a significantly lower risk of developing dementia than current smokers. Their risk was similar to people who had quit smoking before the study began and those who had never smoked.
New research suggests that quitting smoking may lower the chance of developing dementia later in life. (iStock)
The researchers also found that dementia risk continued to decline the longer a person remained smoke-free, approaching that of never-smokers after about seven years.
The benefits appeared strongest among people who gained little or no weight after quitting.
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“Our findings suggest that quitting smoking may support long-term brain health, but they also highlight that what happens after quitting matters,” lead researcher Hui Chen said in a statement.
The reduction in dementia risk was most pronounced among people who experienced little or no weight gain after they stopped smoking. (iStock)
Zaid Fadul, a Harvard-trained physician and chief medical officer of Bespoke Concierge MD who was not involved in the research, said the findings add to growing evidence that quitting smoking can help protect long-term brain health.
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“The key takeaway is that the brain appears to benefit from smoking cessation at virtually any stage,” Fadul told Fox News Digital.
“Smoking contributes to chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and damage to blood vessels that supply the brain, all of which are associated with cognitive decline and dementia risk.”
Fadul said the findings should encourage smokers who may feel it is too late to quit.
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“Importantly, it is rarely ‘too late’ to quit,” he said.
“While earlier cessation offers the greatest benefit, the body and brain begin recovering soon after smoking stops.”
Experts say it is almost never too late to quit smoking, as the body and brain start to recover soon after a person stops, although quitting earlier provides the greatest health benefits. (iStock)
Improvements in circulation, reduced inflammation and better cardiovascular health can help preserve cognitive function later in life, according to Fadul.
“Every year without tobacco is a step toward lowering future dementia risk and improving overall health,” he said.
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While the findings were encouraging, the study does have limitations.
Researchers identified an association between quitting smoking and a lower risk of dementia, but the study was not designed to prove that ending smoking directly prevents the condition.
Other health, lifestyle and environmental factors may have also influenced participants’ outcomes.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers for further comment.
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A terminally ill man who chose to provide for his kids over spending money on a wedding has finally tied the knot with his fiancé – 20 years after he first proposed to her.
Dean Pennell, 63, met his partner Kay Beaman, 62, through their children 24 years ago in Basildon, Essex.
The couple held off on wedding plans in order to provide for their 10 children.
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But after being told he had just weeks to live, Pennell — who has terminal cancer — finally married Beaman on June 18 at Colchester Hospital in Essex, England, news agency SWNS reported.
The new wife said, “I am absolutely elated. We have waited a long time, and it’s so special to be able to celebrate our marriage here, with our families.”
Dean Pennell, who has terminal cancer, married longtime love Kay Beaman at Colchester Hospital on June 18, 2026. The couple is pictured here. (SWNS)
She added to SWNS, “Dean proposed when we first got together — but with 10 children between us, money would not allow.”
She added, “We were planning to get married this year, but with the situation as it was, we decided to bring the wedding forward.”
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The couple were joined by their family and friends, including their 10 children and some of their 18 grandchildren.
The event was organized in less than a week by a variety of hospital staff members, SWNS noted.
Beaman, front left, and Pennell, front right, at Colchester Hospital, along with Langham Ward manager Lucy Everett, matron Emma Davis and patient flow coordinator Donna Knox. Family and friends are shown in the background. (SWNS)
Said Beaman, “It was very hard for Dean. He had been so excited in the lead-up to the wedding, and I would get a phone call from him at the hospital every morning telling me how many days there were to go until the wedding.”
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She said that “when the day came, he was adamant, as difficult as it was, that he was going to stand up for as much as the ceremony as possible — and we had a lovely day.”
After being told he had just weeks to live, Pennell, who has terminal cancer, finally married his fiancé on June 18. (SWNS)
She noted her new husband “was exhausted afterward. Dean is now back at home, and we are living life to suit us.”
A former electroplater, Pennell added, “It was absolutely brilliant. The staff worked really hard to organize the wedding.”
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Ward manager Lucy Everett said, “It has been a pleasure to be able to help Dean and Kay. It’s rare that we get to celebrate a wedding at Colchester Hospital — it’s a first for me,” as SWNS reported.
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The East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust also presented the couple with a clock — displaying the exact time the happy couple said “I do” on their big day.
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This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
A 30-year-old man has been asking people he doesn’t know to sit with him in pubs across the country ever since December of last year, as part of what he calls his “Empty Chairs” campaign.
Dean Perryman came up with the idea after his best friend, Rob Clancy, tragically died by suicide at age 29 just a month earlier.
Wanting to make sure nobody else ever felt alone — even perfect strangers — Perryman started heading out to restaurants and pubs wearing a bright orange hoodie to make his presence obvious to anyone choosing to chat with him.
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Just a few weeks ago, he held his program’s 1,000th meet-up in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, featuring about 12 attendees — and said he’s proud of how far it has come.
“It has been such an incredible experience. I am loving every second of it still,” the resident of Stratford in East London told news agency SWNS.
Dean Perryman, second from right, has been inviting strangers to sit with him in pubs to help let people know they aren’t alone in life. (Dean Perryman/SWNS)
“When I started, it came from such a place of sadness — and to see how this simple idea has been able to help so many people has been really nice,” he said. “I have been able to meet and connect with so many new people and learn about them. It gives people an opportunity to speak openly if they need it.”
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Perryman works for team-building game company Chicken Rush. He used social media, he said, to create interest in the “Empty Chair” idea, he said.
The events started in London and Essex before the founder began recruiting volunteers to host them across the U.K. — and the rest of the world as well.
Events have since been planned in Manchester, Bedford, Cambridge, Skegness, Gloucester, Leeds, York, Wrexham, and more.
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It has also branched out to other countries, including Colombia, Spain, the United Arab Emirates and Australia.
He said lots of people actually return to the events, especially in smaller rural towns, as people create and build friendships that last long afterward.
Perryman, in orange sweatshirt, back row, has been inviting strangers to sit with him in pubs to encourage connection. “There really isn’t a barrier to entry,” he said. “Whoever needs the space is welcome to come.” (Dean Perryman/SWNS)
Perryman, who has attended 61 himself, said his favorite part of the events is seeing men open up about their troubles, as he feels they need a safe space to do so.
“Some people come because they really want someone to listen to what they have to say,” he said. “Others come because they have the capacity to be there for someone else. Everyone shares their own story, but it stays at the table.”
“No matter who you are, there is a place for you.”
He said the groups have “talked about the difficulty of living in a big city and feeling isolated, but nothing is off the table — we’ve spoken about everything and anything. To give people a place that they can go when they need to talk is incredible.”
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Perryman said he has about 200 more events already lined up — and said he has no plans to stop scheduling them, SWNS reported.
He said there is no pattern in terms of who shows up. Usually, it’s a diverse group of people.
Perryman, right, has been asking people he doesn’t know to sit with him in pubs as part of his “Empty Chairs” suicide prevention campaign. (Dean Perryman/SWNS)
“Every Empty Chairs event you go to, you are going to meet people of different walks of life,” he said. “It is so powerful to show that, no matter who you are, there is a place for you. We have everyone — men, women, young, old. There really isn’t a barrier to entry for this. Whoever needs the space is welcome to come.”
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He also said, “A lot of people come because they’re feeling lonely in a new area, or they want to make new friends.”
He said he hopes that his Empty Chairs campaign can be a lasting legacy for his best friend, Rob — someone he believes needed a similar space.
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“He was the kindest, sweetest guy you could ever hope to meet,” said Perryman. “Like a lot of men, he wasn’t the biggest sharer. He was very much the life and soul of anywhere you went, but he wasn’t someone who would be the first to open up about it if he was feeling some type of way.”
“To now be in a position where Empty Chairs looks like it could be a legacy for Rob is amazing,” Perryman added.
Dr Jessica Gray reveals why Americans are living longer
Family medicine physician Dr. Jessica Gray explains that new data shows Americans are living longer, reversing a COVID-era trend. She highlights factors like declining drug overdoses, especially fentanyl, and improved cancer survival rates due to immunotherapy advancements and decreased tobacco use. Gray notes 2025 preliminary data looks even better for U.S. life expectancy.
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A 78-year-old Oklahoma woman who was diagnosed with polio as a child and was the last American to rely on an iron lung to live has died.
Martha Lillard found out she had the once-feared disease when she was 5 years old, which left her paralyzed from the neck down, and required her to use the machine to help her breathe while she slept.
Lillard contracted COVID-19 twice during the pandemic, which left her in the machine nearly 24 hours a day.
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“They told her she wasn’t supposed to live past 20 years old,” her younger sister, Cindy McVey, told The Associated Press on Friday. “She had the enthusiasm and the drive to continue living and make the best of her life.”
Despite having polio, Lillard was able to go to school two hours a day as a child, and she had tutors the rest of the time. She also used an intercom phone system that allowed her to interact with her teachers and classmates from home.
Martha Lillard rests in her iron lung in Shawnee, Oklahoma. (Cindy McVey/AP Photo, File)
Lillard was even able to take road trips as a child because of a custom trailer that could accommodate the iron lung and her father making sure their hotels had wide enough doors for the machine.
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An iron lung is a negative-pressure ventilator that would help a patient with paralyzed lung muscles breathe.
A row of iron lungs is seen inside in a Los Angeles hospital in 1950. (Bettmann Archive)
The disease once caused thousands of cases of paralysis in children during outbreaks each year in the first part of the 20th century before a vaccine became available in 1955.
By 1979, polio was considered eliminated in the U.S.
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Later, Lillard was able to regain the use of her left arm and legs through therapy and was even able to drive for a time.
She lived independently for many years, even getting married earlier this year to a man from Egypt she corresponded with for two decades after he was able to obtain a visa.
A nurse prepares children for a polio vaccine shot as part of a citywide vaccine test on elementary school students. (Bettmann Archive)
“They were really soul mates,” McVey said. “He’s extremely brokenhearted.”
Lillard, who wrote poetry and volunteered with the Humane Society, according to her sister, had just 25% lung capacity before she was diagnosed with COVID.
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She died of chronic pulmonary failure and post-polio syndrome, according to her death certificate.
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Her sister added that it was related to the effects of long-haul COVID.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
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