The poorer mental function seen among alcoholics, many of whom also regularly smoke cigarettes, may be partially due to the long-term effects of nicotine, new research suggests. 

    "People who are also smokers are at a much higher risk," Dr. Jennifer M. Glass, of the University of Michigan's Addiction Research Center, said. 

    In her study, "cigarette smoking was negatively related to IQ and thinking," she said. 

    This finding may seem counterintuitive , since many smokers attest to feeling more alert and focused after smoking. Indeed, research shows that improved mental functioning is one of the immediate effects of nicotine exposure. Chronic smoking, however, is known to have the opposite effect. 

    Studies show that up to 87 percent of alcoholics smoke cigarettes. Yet, few studies have looked into cigarette smoking as a factor that might explain the cognitive deficits reported among alcoholics. 

    To investigate that association, Glass and her colleagues examined brain function among 172 men from the same community, including 103 men who abused alcohol. 

    The team found that men with higher scores on the lifetime alcohol problems scale (LAPS) and those who reported a higher number of pack-years of smoking both had lower IQ scores. 

    Upon further investigation, the researchers found that smoking also appeared to be independently associated with weaker verbal and visual-spatial reasoning.

    Thus, though smoking did not account for all of the decreased neurocognitive functioning observed among the alcohol abusers, it did seem to account for some of the effects, the report indicates. 

    中文：

    最新的研究結果顯示：尼古丁對人體神經的長期影響在某種程度上是嗜酒成癮者智力下降的主要原因，因為他們中很多人同時也是老煙民。 

    “既喝酒又抽煙的人面臨更大的危險，”密歇根大學上癮行為研究中心的詹尼弗-M-格拉斯博士說。 

    她說：在研究中發現“抽煙對智商和思維能力有消極的影響。” 

    這一發現似乎和我們的直覺正好相反，因為很多人都覺得在抽完煙后反應會更敏捷，注意力更集中。研究結果顯示，抽煙后確實會有短暫的意識功能增強，但這只是尼古丁釋放的短暫效果之一。然而，長期抽煙會產生相反的效果。 

    研究表明87%的“酒鬼”抽煙，但是，幾乎從來沒有人研究過抽煙可能是導致“酒鬼”意識缺陷的原因之一。 

    為了調查這之間的關系，格拉斯和她的同事們研究了來自同一社區的172名男性的大腦機能，其中有103人嗜酒成癮。 

    研究小組發現在終生飲酒問題表上得分較高的和那些年吸煙量越高的人，他們的智商往往比較低。 

    經過進一步的調查研究，研究者們發現抽煙還會直接影響一個人的語言表達能力、形象化和空間推理能力。 

    因此，研究報告認為，盡管抽煙并不是導致嗜酒成癮者神經系統識別功能降低的全部原因，但確實有一定的影響。