Specifying the relationship between alcohol use and cognitive loss: the effects of frequency of consumption and psychological distress.

Parker, E. S.; Parker, Douglas A.; Harford, Thomas C.

doi:10.15288/jsa.1991.52.366

Cited by 49 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…The results of phase I studies of the relationship between social drinking and cognition were summarized in two reviews authored by Parsons, one in 198638 and the other, authored with Nixon, in 1998 37. The earlier review concluded that “there are no stable or reproducible specific relationships” between drinking and performance on certain cognitive-perceptual tests and that “the results of studies to date are inconclusive.”38 The later review concluded that “heavy social drinkers had significantly worse performance on one or more cognitive tests than the light drinkers,” supporting the alcohol-causal-threshold hypothesis that “persons drinking five or six US standard drinks per day over extended time periods manifest some cognitive inefficiencies.” Therefore, light to moderate drinking was not consistently associated with any cognitive deficits, although the evidence continued to be “fragmentary and in need of replication.”37 This conclusion is further supported by the reanalysis by Parker et al39 of their earlier study 40. The reanalysis found that the cognitive deficits they had reported earlier were due to the effects of heavy drinkers (almost daily consumption of four drinks), since in lighter drinkers (two drinks/occasion, 1.6 times/week) “neither the quantity of alcohol consumed per occasion nor the frequency of consumption significantly predicted abstraction performance.”39…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 80%

Moderate alcohol consumption and cognitive risk

Neafsey¹,

Collins²

2011

NDT

183

155

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We reviewed 143 papers that described the relationship between moderate drinking of alcohol and some aspect of cognition. Two types of papers were found: (1) those that provided ratios of risk between drinkers and nondrinkers (74 papers in total) and (2) those that, although they did not provide such ratios, allowed cognition in drinkers to be rated as “better,” “no different,” or “worse” than cognition in nondrinkers (69 papers in total). The history of research on moderate drinking and cognition can be divided into two eras: 1977–1997 and 1998–present. Phase I (1977–1997) was the era of neuropsychological evaluation involving mostly young to middle-aged (18–50 years old) subjects. Although initial studies indicated moderate drinking impaired cognition, many later studies failed to confirm this, instead finding no difference in cognition between drinkers and nondrinkers. Phase II (1998–present) was and is the era of mental status exam evaluation involving mostly older (≥55 years old) subjects. These studies overwhelmingly found that moderate drinking either reduced or had no effect on the risk of dementia or cognitive impairment. When all the ratios of risk from all the studies in phase II providing such ratios are entered into a comprehensive meta-analysis, the average ratio of risk for cognitive risk (dementia or cognitive impairment/decline) associated with moderate “social” (not alcoholic) drinking of alcohol is 0.77, with nondrinkers as the reference group. The benefit of moderate drinking applied to all forms of dementia (dementia unspecified, Alzheimer’s disease, and vascular dementia) and to cognitive impairment (low test scores), but no significant benefit against cognitive decline (rate of decline in test scores) was found. Both light and moderate drinking provided a similar benefit, but heavy drinking was associated with nonsignificantly higher cognitive risk for dementia and cognitive impairment. Although the meta-analysis also indicated that wine was better than beer or spirits, this was based on a relatively small number of studies because most studies did not distinguish among these different types of alcohol. Furthermore, a number of the studies that did make the distinction reported no difference among the effects of these different types of alcohol. Therefore, at present this question remains unanswered. Analysis also showed that the presence of the apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 allele eliminated the benefit of moderate drinking. However, this was based on a relatively small number of studies and several other studies have found a beneficial effect of the epsilon e4 allele. Further studies are necessary to settle this question. The benefit of moderate alcohol for cognition was seen in both men and women, although the amount and pattern of drinking is very different between the two sexes. Lastly, the finding of unaffected or significantly reduced cognitive risk in light to moderate drinkers was seen in 14/19 countries for which country-specific ratio data were available, with three of the five rema...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 80%

Moderate alcohol consumption and cognitive risk

Neafsey¹,

Collins²

2011

NDT

183

155

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“…Consistent with this hypothesis, early studies found cognitive deficits in abstraction and concept formation in young-to middle-aged men who engaged in social drinking,57,58 and two studies in women reported similar results 59,60. Two previous studies reported that LMD increased cognitive decline in the elderly,61,62 and one longitudinal study reported that LMD increased the risk of Alzheimer's disease 63.…”

Section: Neurotoxic Effect Of Alcoholmentioning

confidence: 69%

Alcohol and Cognition in the Elderly: A Review

Kim

Lee

et al. 2012

Psychiatry Investig

117

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Consumption of large amounts of alcohol is known to have negative effects, but consumption in smaller amounts may be protective. The effect of alcohol may be greater in the elderly than in younger adults, particularly with regard to cognition. However, the drinking pattern that will provide optimal protection against dementia and cognitive decline in the elderly has not been systematically investigated. The present paper is a critical review of research on the effect of alcohol on cognitive function and dementia in the elderly. Studies published from 1971 to 2011 related to alcohol and cognition in the elderly were reviewed using a PubMed search. Alcohol may have both a neurotoxic and neuroprotective effect. Longitudinal and brain imaging studies in the elderly show that excessive alcohol consumption may increase the risk of cognitive dysfunction and dementia, but low to moderate alcohol intake may protect against cognitive decline and dementia and provide cardiovascular benefits. Evidence suggesting that low to moderate alcohol consumption in the elderly protects against cognitive decline and dementia exists; however, because of varying methodology and a lack of standardized definitions, these findings should be interpreted with caution. It is important to conduct more, well-designed studies to identify the alcohol drinking pattern that will optimally protect the elderly against cognitive decline and dementia.

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“…Positive effects for women, but not for men, have been reported (Dufouil et al, 1997), and a failure to find any differences in cognitive performance between current and abstinent individuals has also been reported (Dent et al, 1997). Studies in middle-aged (ages 30-60) samples are also inconclusive, with smaller clinical studies (Emmerson et al, 1988;Page & Cleveland, 1987;Waugh et al, 1989;Williams & Skinner, 1990) and large community-based studies (Cerhan et al, 1998;Parker et al, 1991) showing both beneficial and detrimental effects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of alcohol and cigarette use on cognition in middle-aged adults

Schinka

Vanderploeg

Rogish

et al. 2002

J Int Neuropsychol Soc

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In this retrospective cohort study we examined the independent and interactive effects of drinking and smoking on cognition in a sample of 3361 males, ages 31 to 49, with varying lifetime histories of alcohol and cigarette use. Dependent variables were neuropsychological measures of global and specific cognitive abilities. Comparison of the ability scores of seven groups, defined by their drinking and smoking histories, explained only 5.4% of the multivariate variance in cognitive ability and less than 2% in any individual cognitive measure. Regression analyses for current drinkers and smokers showed only a single significant, but negligible, effect of pack-years of smoking on a measure of global cognitive ability. Differences in cognitive function in groups defined by intensity of alcohol and cigarette use revealed no significant effect for drinking and a significant, but very small, effect for smoking. (JINS, 2002, 8, 683-690.)

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Specifying the relationship between alcohol use and cognitive loss: the effects of frequency of consumption and psychological distress.

Cited by 49 publications

References 0 publications

Moderate alcohol consumption and cognitive risk

Moderate alcohol consumption and cognitive risk

Alcohol and Cognition in the Elderly: A Review

Effects of alcohol and cigarette use on cognition in middle-aged adults

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