Moderate Alcohol Intake and Cognitive Decline in Elderly Women

To
examine the effects of moderate alcohol intake on cognitive function,
researchers evaluated 12,480 participants (aged 70–81 years)
in the Nurses’ Health Study and reassessed them 2 years later (approximately
90% follow-up). They used tests of memory, fluency, and attention
to determine cognitive impairment (defined as the lowest 10% of
scores) and decline (defined as the highest 10% of score decreases).

• In
  analyses adjusted for potential confounders, moderate drinkers
  (consumed 1.0–14.9 g of alcohol per day) had significantly
  lower risks of cognitive impairment and decline on tests of general
  cognition and verbal memory than did nondrinkers (relative risks
  0.8–0.9).
• Consuming
  15–30 g of alcohol per day, beverage type, and ApoE genotype
  were not significantly associated with cognitive function.

Comments:

This
is a well-conducted study of stable drinkers (those recently
changing their intake and ex-drinkers were excluded) that used valid
measures of cognitive function. As an editorialist points out, however,
the study is limited by its observational design: it is plausible that
moderate drinking produces cognitive benefits, or that women
in good health choose to drink moderately. Further, assessing cognitive
function twice may not be adequate to determine the change in function
over time. Nevertheless, these findings echo those from many previous
studies and support the need for continued efforts to elucidate the
effects of alcohol intake among older adults.

R.
Curtis Ellison, MD

Reference:

Stampfer
MJ, Kang JH, Chen J, et al. Effects of moderate alcohol
consumption on cognitive function in women. NEJM. 2005;352(3):245–253.

Evans DA, Bienias JL. Alcohol consumption and cognition. NEJM. 2005;352(3):289–290.