ReviewEvidence-based mental health2018
Effects of drinking on late-life brain and cognition.
Review in Evidence-based mental health, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 69 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
69 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The relationship between alcohol use and dementia in adults aged more than 60 years: a combined analysis of prospective, individual-participant data from 15 international studies.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2023Pooled it
- Using Mendelian randomization analysis to better understand the relationship between mental health and substance use: a systematic review.Psychological medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Alcohol use and burden for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016.Lancet (London, England) · 2018Pooled it
- The Cognitive benefits of nitrate in patients with alcohol use disorder: unraveling the oral microbiome ectopic colonization pathway.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Individual-level Social Vulnerability and Cognitive Function Among Older Adults in the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Does Reflective Thinking Improve the Ability to Plan in Light and Heavy Drinkers? A Clinical-Experimental Model of Metacognition.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2026Article
- A community screening tool for neuropsychiatric symptoms in the elderly: integrating cortisol, microbiome, and social factors with machine learning.Translational psychiatry · 2026Observational
- Alcohol consumption: from biochemistry to behavior, health, and beyond.Frontiers in toxicology · 2026Review
- The impact of nutritional, environmental, and lifestyle factors on neurological disorders: therapeutic implications and mechanistic insights.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- Progress of nursing management for delirium in critically ill geriatric patients: a narrative review.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Review
- Association between housework frequency and cognitive impairment among Chinese older adults: a prospective cohort study based on CLHLS.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Article
- Qualitative analysis of how U.S. college students construct their alcohol-related content identities via social media.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2025Article
- Development of a neural network-based risk prediction model for mild cognitive impairment in older adults with functional disability.BMC public health · 2025Article
- A Narrative Review Evaluating Diet and Exercise as Complementary Medicine for the Management of Alzheimer's Disease.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Nitrate ameliorates alcohol-induced cognitive impairment via oral microbiota.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2025Article
- The increase in risk classification using Canada's Guidance on Alcohol and Health: an empirical examination in a sample of community adults in Ontario.Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2025Observational
- Associations of modifiable dementia risk factors with dementia and cognitive decline: evidence from three prospective cohorts.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- The Cognitive Footprint of Medication Use.Brain and behavior · 2025Article
- Multidisciplinary cognitive performance optimization for mission-critical decision makers: delivering "the whole pizza".Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
9 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Alcohol consumption is common in Western countries and has been increasing in older adults. Latest figures from Great Britain suggest 75% of those over 65 years drink, an increase from 71% 10 years ago. Chronic heavy intake is a well-established cause of brain atrophy and dementia, with a recent long-term prospective study from the USA reporting a doubling of the odds of later severe memory impairment in those with a history of an alcohol use disorder. Drinking of moderate amounts has been reported to be protective for brain health in a number of epidemiological studies, including some claims of possibly reducing dementia risk. Rigorous recent research has questioned this belief, with new evidence of harmful associations in moderate drinkers compared with abstainers. This has raised suspicion that reported protective effects of moderate drinking were due to confounding by socioeconomic class and intelligence. Clinicians should look out for cognitive impairment in heavy drinkers, considering that abstinence may induce a degree of clinical improvement. Discussions with patients regarding moderate drinking should be informed by recent research. Health benefits of moderate drinking at least for cognitive function are questionable, and if they exist are probably limited to one unit of alcohol daily with respect to other body systems.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.