Abstract
Faster rates of age-related cognitive decline might result in early onset of cognitive impairment and dementia. The relationship between ethanol intake and cognitive decline, although studied extensively, remains poorly understood. Previous studies used single measurements of ethanol, and few were conducted in diverse populations. We assessed the association of 9-year trajectories of ethanol intake (1987-1998) with 15-year rate of decline in cognitive performance from mid- to late life (1996-2013) among 2,169 Black and 8,707 White participants of the US Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study using multivariable linear regression models. We hypothesized that stable, low to moderate drinking would be associated with lesser 15-year cognitive decline, and stable, heavy drinking with greater 15-year cognitive decline. Stable, low to moderate drinking (for Blacks, adjusted mean difference (MD) = 0.03 (95% confidence interval (CI): −0.13, 0.19); for Whites, adjusted MD = 0.02 (95% CI: −0.05, 0.08)) and stable, heavy drinking (for Blacks, adjusted MD = 0.08 (95% CI: −0.34, 0.50); for Whites, adjusted MD = −0.03 (95% CI: −0.18, 0.11)) in midlife compared with stable never-drinking were not associated with 15-year decline in general cognitive function from mid- to late life. No association was observed for the stable former and “mostly” drinking trajectories with 15-year cognitive decline. Stable low, low to moderate, and stable heavy drinking in midlife are not associated with lesser and greater cognitive decline, respectively, from mid- to late life among Black and White adults.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 788-800 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | American Journal of Epidemiology |
Volume | 189 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 1 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Author affiliations: Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Shelly-Ann M. Love, Kari E. North, Anna Kucharska-Newton, Mariaelisa Graff, Laura Loehr, Sarah B. Jones, Gerardo Heiss); Department of Biostatistics, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Donglin Zeng); Aetion, Boston, Massachusetts (Natalia Petruski-Ivleva); Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky (Anna Kucharska-Newton); Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York (Priya Palta); Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, New York (Priya Palta); and Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Laura Loehr). This work was funded by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse Alcoholism (F31 Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Grant Award 1F31AA024971-01) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (training grant T32HL129982). The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study is carried out as a collaborative study supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (contracts HHSN268201700001I, HHSN268201700002I, HHSN268201700003I, HHSN268201700005I, HHSN268201700004I). Neurocognitive data is supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institute on Aging, and National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (grants U01 2U01HL096812, 2U01HL096814, 2U01HL096899, 2U01HL096902, 2U01HL096917 from the NIH (NHLBI, NINDS, NIA and NIDCD), with previous brain magnetic resonance imaging examinations funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (grant R01-HL70825). Conflict of interest: none declared.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Keywords
- African-Americans
- Aging
- Cognitive decline
- Ethanol
- Middle-aged
- Multivariable regression models
- Trajectories
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Epidemiology