Heavy Alcohol Use Is Associated With Greater Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults

Current heavy alcohol use, as well as a lifetime history of heavy alcohol use, is associated with cognitive impairment in older adults, according to a new study.

“In addition, older adults who currently drink heavily show greater cognitive impairment than younger people drinking heavily,” according to lead study author Adam J. Woods, PhD, of the Department of Aging and Geriatric Research, University of Florida in Gainesville. “Thus, there may be long-term cognitive consequences of past heavy drinking behavior and older adults appear to be more susceptible to cognitive impairment from heavy drinking behavior.”
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Sixty-six participants underwent a comprehensive neurocognitive battery. The researchers classified current heavy alcohol drinkers using National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism criteria (alcohol heavy, n=21) based on the timeline follow-back and a structured clinical interview and compared them with nondrinkers and moderate drinkers (alcohol low, n=45). They found that 53.3% of the total population had a lifetime history of alcohol dependence. They grouped and analyzed neurocognitive data relative to global and domain scores assessing the following: global cognitive function, attention/executive function, learning, memory, motor function, verbal function, and speed of processing.

Heavy current alcohol consumption in older adults was associated with poorer global cognitive function, learning, memory, and motor function. Furthermore, lifetime history of alcohol dependence was associated with poorer function in the same neurocognitive domains, in addition to the attention/executive domain, irrespective of age.

“While we expected current heavy alcohol use would be associated with cognitive impairment and these effects would be stronger in older adults, we were surprised by the strong evidence for a relationship between lifetime history of heavy alcohol use and cognitive impairment,” Dr Woods said.

He is currently investigating mechanistic effects of acute alcohol consumption, as well as long-term impact on brain function and behavior.

“Cognitive impairment is associated with increased mortality, hospitalization, injury, and loss of independence in older adults,” Dr Woods said. “In geriatric care settings, close attention to current and past drinking behavior may be important for avoiding consequences associated with cognitive impairment in older adults.”

—Mike Bederka

Reference:

Woods AJ, Porges EC, Bryant VE, et al. Current heavy alcohol consumption is associated with greater cognitive impairment in older adults [published online September 22, 2016]. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. doi:10.1111/acer.13211.