Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35993434›Full record

SynthesisAddiction (Abingdon, England)2023

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.

Louise Mewton, Rachel Visontay, Nicholas Hoy, Darren M Lipnicki, Matthew Sunderland, Richard B Lipton, Maëlenn Guerchet, Karen Ritchie, Jenna Najar, Nikolaos Scarmeas and 11 more

Erratum issuedOpen access · hybridAbstract readMeta-AnalysisReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 27 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
27citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
5.7field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

27 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Article
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  8. Review
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  11. Review
  12. Observational
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Adolescent Alcohol and the Spectrum of Cognitive Dysfunction in Aging.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2025
    Review
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

21 authors at 14 institutions in 11 countries.

Louise MewtonCentre for Healthy Brain Ageing, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-7812-296X
Rachel VisontayCentre for Healthy Brain Ageing, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-0693-1012
Nicholas HoyCentre for Healthy Brain Ageing, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-5998-6420
Darren M LipnickiCentre for Healthy Brain Ageing, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Matthew SunderlandNeuropsychiatric Institute, The Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia.
Richard B LiptonThe Matilda Centre for Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Maëlenn GuerchetDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, New York, NY, USA.
Karen RitchieLimoges University, CHU Limoges, EpiMaCT, Institute of Epidemiology and Tropical Neurology, OmegaHealth, Limoges, France.
Jenna NajarCentre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Nikolaos ScarmeasRegion Västra Götaland, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Psychiatry, Cognition and Old Age Psychiatry Clinic, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Ki-Woong KimDepartment of Neurology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Steffi Riedel HellerDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
Martin van BoxtelInstitute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health (ISAP), Medical Faculty, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
Erin JacobsenSchool for Mental Health and Neuroscience/Alzheimer Centrum Limburg, Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Henry BrodatyCentre for Healthy Brain Ageing, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Kaarin J AnsteyDepartment of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Mary HaanCentre for Research on Ageing, Health and Wellbeing, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
Marcia ScazufcaDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Elena LoboLIM-23, Hospital das Clinicas (HCFMUSP), Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Perminder S SachdevCentre for Healthy Brain Ageing, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Collaborators from the Cohort Studies of Memory in an International Consortium (COSMIC)
UNSW Sydney · AUSeoul National University · KRAlbert Einstein College of Medicine · USAustralian National University · AULeipzig University · DEMaastricht University · NLNational and Kapodistrian University of Athens · GRPrince of Wales Hospital · AUThe University of Sydney · AUUniversidad de Zaragoza · ESUniversité de Montpellier · FRUniversity of California, San Francisco · USUniversity of Gothenburg · SEUniversity of Pittsburgh · US

Funding

Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Prospective Community StudyR01AG023651 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · PI GANGULI, MARY · 2005 to 2020
$27.1M
A global epidemiology of cognitive impairment and dementia due to Alzheimer's disease and related disorders: the COSMIC CollaborationR01AG057531 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES · PI Perminder S SACHDEV · 2023 to 2026
$5.9M
COSMIC: An international consortium to identify risk and protective factors and biomarkers of cognitive ageing and dementia in diverse ethno-racial groups and geographical settingsRF1AG057531 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES · PI SACHDEV, PERMINDER S · 2017 to 2020
$2.9M
NIA NIH HHS R01 AG023651NIA NIH HHS R01 AG057531NIA NIH HHS RF1 AG057531Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aimTo synthesize international findings on the alcohol-dementia relationship, including representation from low- and middle-income countries.

methodsIndividual participant data meta-analysis of 15 prospective epidemiological cohort studies from countries situated in six continents. Cox regression investigated the dementia risk associated with alcohol use in older adults aged over 60 years. Additional analyses assessed the alcohol-dementia relationship in the sample stratified by sex and by continent. Participants included 24 478 community dwelling individuals without a history of dementia at baseline and at least one follow-up dementia assessment. The main outcome measure was all-cause dementia as determined by clinical interview.

resultsAt baseline, the mean age across studies was 71.8 (standard deviation = 7.5, range = 60-102 years), 14 260 (58.3%) were female and 13 269 (54.2%) were current drinkers. During 151 636 person-years of follow-up, there were 2124 incident cases of dementia (14.0 per 1000 person-years). When compared with abstainers, the risk for dementia was lower in occasional [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.78; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.68-0.89], light-moderate (HR = 0.78; 95% CI = 0.70-0.87) and moderate-heavy drinkers (HR = 0.62; 95% CI = 0.51-0.77). There was no evidence of differences between life-time abstainers and former drinkers in terms of dementia risk (HR = 0.98; 95% CI = 0.81-1.18). In dose-response analyses, moderate drinking up to 40 g/day was associated with a lower risk of dementia when compared with lif-time abstaining. Among current drinkers, there was no consistent evidence for differences in terms of dementia risk. Results were similar when the sample was stratified by sex. When analysed at the continent level, there was considerable heterogeneity in the alcohol-dementia relationship.

conclusionsAbstinence from alcohol appears to be associated with an increased risk for all-cause dementia. Among current drinkers, there appears to be no consistent evidence to suggest that the amount of alcohol consumed in later life is associated with dementia risk.

Indexed as

Alcohol DrinkingDementiaAgedAged, 80 and overEthanolFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedProportional Hazards ModelsProspective StudiesRisk FactorsEthanolAlcoholcross-national comparisondementiaepidemiologyindividual participant data meta-analysisolder adults

Identifiers

PMID35993434
PMCPMC9898084
OpenAlexW4292603742

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.