This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.
Abstract
Objective: To estimate the impact of alcohol consumption on the incidence of mild cognitive impairment and its progression to dementia.
Methods: We evaluated the incidence of mild cognitive impairment in 1,445 non–cognitively impaired individuals and its progression to dementia in 121 patients with mild cognitive impairment, aged 65 to 84 years, participating in the Italian Longitudinal Study on Aging, with a 3.5-year follow-up. The level of alcohol consumption was ascertained in the year before the survey. Dementia and mild cognitive impairment were classified using current clinical criteria.
Results: Patients with mild cognitive impairment who were moderate drinkers, i.e., those who consumed less than 1 drink/day (approximately 15 g of alcohol), had a lower rate of progression to dementia than abstainers (hazard ratio [HR] 0.15; 95% CI 0.03 to 0.78). Furthermore, moderate drinkers with mild cognitive impairment who consumed less than 1 drink/day of wine showed a significantly lower rate of progression to dementia than abstainers (HR 0.15; 95% CI 0.03 to 0.77). Finally, there was no significant association between higher levels of drinking (≥1 drink/day) and rate of progression to dementia in patients with mild cognitive impairment vs abstainers. No significant associations were found between any levels of drinking and the incidence of mild cognitive impairment in non–cognitively impaired individuals vs abstainers.
Conclusions: In patients with mild cognitive impairment, up to 1 drink/day of alcohol or wine may decrease the rate of progression to dementia.
Footnotes
-
Received September 1, 2006. Accepted in final form January 21, 2007.
AAN Members
We have changed the login procedure to improve access between AAN.com and the Neurology journals. If you are experiencing issues, please log out of AAN.com and clear history and cookies. (For instructions by browser, please click the instruction pages below). After clearing, choose preferred Journal and select login for AAN Members. You will be redirected to a login page where you can log in with your AAN ID number and password. When you are returned to the Journal, your name should appear at the top right of the page.
AAN Non-Member Subscribers
Purchase access
Letters: Rapid online correspondence
REQUIREMENTS
You must ensure that your Disclosures have been updated within the previous six months. Please go to our Submission Site to add or update your Disclosure information.
Your co-authors must send a completed Publishing Agreement Form to Neurology Staff (not necessary for the lead/corresponding author as the form below will suffice) before you upload your comment.
If you are responding to a comment that was written about an article you originally authored:
You (and co-authors) do not need to fill out forms or check disclosures as author forms are still valid
and apply to letter.
Submission specifications:
- Submissions must be < 200 words with < 5 references. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
- Submissions should not have more than 5 authors. (Exception: original author replies can include all original authors of the article)
- Submit only on articles published within 6 months of issue date.
- Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
- Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.
You May Also be Interested in
Efficacy of Ubrogepant in the Acute Treatment of Migraine With Mild Pain vs Moderate or Severe Pain
Dr. Kathleen Digre and Dr. Kendra Pham
► Watch
Topics Discussed
Alert Me
Recommended articles
Quantity and quality of mental activities and the risk of incident mild cognitive impairment
Subjective cognitive decline and risk of MCI
Vascular risk factors, incidence of MCI, and rates of progression to dementia
Higher risk of progression to dementia in mild cognitive impairment cases who revert to normal