People who don’t drink alcohol have a higher risk of developing dementia from any source

Background
NumeElderly and geriatric patients are typically affected by dementia.rous symptoms that might be associated with this disorder include deteriorated cognition, memory, attention, communication, reasoning, and visual perception. The patient experiences severe physical, psychological, social, and financial obligations as a result of dementia, which lowers their quality of life.

The number of dementia sufferers is anticipated to reach 152 million by 2050, with the prevalence of dementia increasing over the past 20 years. Even though there are still no proven cures for dementia, it has been established that several actions can make dementia more likely to occur. In fact, the 2020 Lancet Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention, and Care found that avoiding 12 different risk factors could delay or prevent the onset of dementia in up to 40% of cases.
For instance, excessive alcohol usage in middle age might have harmful neurotoxic consequences on the brain. Harmful alcohol consumption is one of the biggest risk factors for the onset of dementia compared to other risk variables, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

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Population-based studies on the connection between drinking and dementia have produced contradictory findings. For instance, some studies indicate that compared to people who don’t drink, mild to moderate alcohol use may lower the chance of developing dementia. Other research, however, claim that alcohol consumption has no effect on the risk of dementia.

Despite these conflicting data, analyses of population-based observational research show that there is a J-shaped connection between alcohol use and dementia. More specifically, moderate alcohol use may help reduce the risk of dementia, but binge drinking significantly and dose-dependently raises the risk of dementia.

Concerning the study
While addressing the shortcomings of earlier studies, the authors of the current review sought to offer a more succinct picture of the connection between alcohol use and dementia. Some of these restrictions included a lack of uniformity in the classification of alcohol use and a dearth of participation from low- to middle-income nations.

In order to investigate the connection between alcohol and dementia, the researchers also gathered information from 15 prospective epidemiological cohort studies done across six continents. The majority of the cohorts were based in high-income nations, while cohorts from Brazil and the Republic of Congo offered representation from low- and middle-income nations.

The study included those who were older than 60. Exclusion criteria were those with a baseline diagnosis of dementia, those who did not receive follow-up following a dementia assessment, and those who had no history of alcohol use.

Based on the reported alcoholic beverage, the amount of alcohol consumed for each study group was converted into an average daily intake of grams of pure ethanol (g/day). These values were used by the researchers to divide alcohol users into five categories: none, occasional, light-moderate, moderate-heavy, and heavy. These categories correspond to people who currently abstain from alcohol or who consume less than 1.3 g per day, 1.3-24.9 g per day, 25-44.9 g per day, and more than 45 g per day, respectively.

Study results
The current study involved 24,478 participants, with a baseline mean age of 71.8 years. 54.2% of them were current drinkers, and 58.3% of them were female.

Alcohol abstainers were more likely to develop dementia than occasional, light-moderate-, and moderate-heavy drinkers, as well as men. When competing risk models were used and all adjustments were made, it is noteworthy that same conclusion held true for female individuals. However, no correlation between females’ alcohol use and dementia was discovered in models that were fully adjusted as well as those that were adjusted for competing risks of death.

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No of their sex, demographics, or clinical traits, dementia risk was the same for both lifelong abstainers and former drinkers.

Compared to lifelong abstainers, moderate drinkers had a lower risk of dementia. These results held true for both men and women, as well as in the modified models.

There was no discernible difference in dementia risk according to alcohol consumption in the dose-response analysis done among current drinkers. Furthermore, after correcting for demographic and clinical factors, neither men nor women revealed any difference in dementia susceptibility depending on current alcohol intake status.

Additionally, there was no difference in dementia risk between daily drinkers and occasional drinkers. The contrast between lifelong abstainers and current drinkers was similar.

European, North American, Australian, and Asian (Korea) continents were included in analyses for the relationship between alcohol use and dementia risk; however, the differences between these regions were not statistically significant. In contrast to lifetime abstainers, Oceania study findings showed that alcohol use protects against dementia.

Compared to occasional drinkers, light-moderate alcohol use was linked to a lower incidence of dementia among current drinkers in Europe. In Asia, drinking alcohol has no effect on dementia risk.

Conclusions
According to the study’s findings, not drinking alcohol may make you more likely to develop dementia from any source. Additionally, there was no proof that the amount of alcohol ingested affects the risk of dementia.

The authors of the new study stress that it is important to compare the results to those of previous studies that have found a link between moderate alcohol consumption and other health issues like cancer and poor brain health. The current study’s findings are not intended to promote alcohol use, but rather to raise the question of whether the current recommendations to limit alcohol intake in people over 60 represent a successful strategy for preventing the onset of dementia.

But there are several restrictions with the present study that must be taken into account. For instance, the cohort participants self-reported their daily alcohol consumption, which may have been underreported. Additionally, each cohort’s use of different alcoholic beverages was not uniformly evaluated. Finally, given the elderly age of the cohorts, the existence of healthy survivor bias may also restrict the relevance of the study’s findings.