ArticleNeuroImage. Clinical2018
Alcohol intake and brain white matter in middle aged men: Microscopic and macroscopic differences.
Article in NeuroImage. Clinical, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
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Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed.
- Alexithymia mediates white-matter microstructure and substance use escalation in trauma-exposed individuals.Journal of affective disorders · 2026Article
- Connectomics modeling of regional networks of white-matter fractional anisotropy to predict the severity of young adult drinking.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2025Article
- Gut Microbiome-Liver-Brain axis in Alcohol Use Disorder. The role of gut dysbiosis and stress in alcohol-related cognitive impairment progression: possible therapeutic approaches.Neurobiology of stress · 2025Article
- Role of glial cells in neurotoxicological effects of alcohol.Advances in neurotoxicology · 2025Article
- Volumetric and cortical thickness alterations in alcohol dependence: evidence of accelerated brain aging and clinical correlations.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Contributions of Cerebral White Matter Hyperintensities to Postural Instability in Aging With and Without Alcohol Use Disorder.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2024Article
- Article
- Pathways explaining racial/ethnic and socio-economic disparities in brain white matter integrity outcomes in the UK Biobank study.SSM - population health · 2024Article
- Multi-level prediction of substance use: Interaction of white matter integrity, resting-state connectivity and inhibitory control measured repeatedly in every-day life.Addiction biology · 2024Article
- Longitudinal alcohol-related brain changes in older adults: The Sydney Memory and Ageing Study.Addiction biology · 2024Article
- Alcohol consumption and microvascular dysfunction: a J-shaped association: The Maastricht Study.Cardiovascular diabetology · 2023Article
- Diffusion Tensor Imaging in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Machine Learning for Biomarker Development.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Arcuate Fasciculus Microstructure Predicts Alcohol Dependence Risk through Higher IQ.Brain sciences · 2023Article
- Association of Alcohol Consumption with Cognition in Older Population: The A4 Study.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2023Article
- Role of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in addiction disorders.Surgical neurology international · 2023Review
- Effects of white matter lesion grading on the cognitive function of patients with chronic alcohol dependence.American journal of translational research · 2023Article
- Cognitive decline and alcohol consumption in the aging population-A longitudinal analysis of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2022Article
- Examining the Effects of Normal Ageing on Cortical Connectivity of Older Adults.Brain topography · 2022Article
- Artificial neural networks for non-linear age correction of diffusion metrics in the brain.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022Article
- White matter alterations in chronic MDMA use: Evidence from diffusion tensor imaging and neurofilament light chain blood levels.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Heavy alcohol consumption is associated with deleterious changes in the brain but associations of moderate alcohol intake are not well understood. We examined the association of alcohol consumption with brain white matter health in 377 middle-aged men (56-66 years old; mean 61.8 ± 2.6 years) who were participants in the Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging (VETSA). T1-, T2-, proton density-, and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance images were obtained. Diffusion measures were quantified from 12 major white matter tracts. Global white matter lesion (WML) burden was also quantified. Mixed effects linear models examined differences in diffusivity and WMLs by amount of alcohol intake. Analyses adjusted for numerous demographic, health, and lifestyle variables. An inverted-U association was found between alcohol intake and fractional anisotropy (FA) in several tracts, including the inferior-frontal-occipital fasciculus, uncinate fasciculus, superior longitudinal fasciculus, the forceps minor and the anterior thalamic radiations. In these tracts, FA increased with increasing alcohol intake, peaking with moderate alcohol intake (9-28 drinks in 14 days), and declining with heavier intake. Associations remained significant after exclusion of individuals with diabetes or hypertension. There was a U-shaped association in WML burden with highest burden among never drinkers and heavy drinkers (>28 drinks in 14 days). This association was no longer significant after exclusion of individuals with hypertension, since WML burden among heavy drinkers no longer differed from that of other drinkers. This suggests that hypertension related to heavy alcohol intake may contribute to WML burden observed among heavy drinkers. Together, these correlational results suggest that among middle-aged men, moderate drinking may be associated with metrics of better white matter health, particularly microstructural measures, whereas drinking beyond recommended guidelines may be associated with both microstructural and macrostructural white matter damage.
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