Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41014391›Full record

Observational studyEuropean journal of epidemiology2025

Associations of alcohol drinking with incident dementia: a prospective study from the UK Biobank.

Yi Chen, Xiangyan Yin, Xiaoxiao Wang, Xuefen Zheng, Xinyu Yang, Jinhuan Zhou, Mengyao Shi, Yonghong Zhang

Abstract readObservational Study
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Observational study in European journal of epidemiology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Yi ChenDepartment of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Major Chronic Non-communicable Diseases, Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
Xiangyan YinDepartment of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Major Chronic Non-communicable Diseases, Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
Xiaoxiao WangDepartment of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Major Chronic Non-communicable Diseases, Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
Xuefen ZhengDepartment of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Major Chronic Non-communicable Diseases, Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
Xinyu YangDepartment of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Major Chronic Non-communicable Diseases, Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
Jinhuan ZhouDepartment of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Major Chronic Non-communicable Diseases, Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
Mengyao ShiDepartment of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Major Chronic Non-communicable Diseases, Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, China. myshi@suda.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5883-0416
Yonghong ZhangDepartment of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Major Chronic Non-communicable Diseases, Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Relationship between alcohol drinking and incident dementia remained uncertain. This study used UK Biobank cohort data to investigate the association between alcohol drinking and dementia risk, and potential effect modifications by cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, APOE4 gene, and sex. We excluded infrequent drinkers and participants with baseline dementia or dementia within two years of follow-up. Drinking status was defined as non-drinking, low-moderate and heavy drinking (by weekly alcohol units). Drinking behaviors included drinking with meals and drinking type. Primary outcome was all-cause dementia. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated by multivariable Cox regression models. Subgroup analyses stratified by CVD risk, APOE4 gene, and sex were conducted. Among 296,715 participants (mean age 56.54 years), 4,242 developed dementia over a median follow-up of 13.7 years. Compared to non-drinking, low-moderate drinking reduced dementia risk (HR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.59-0.73), while heavy drinking showed no significant association (HR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.75-1.02). All drinking behaviors lowered dementia risk. Low-moderate drinking reduced dementia risk across subgroups: high/low CVD risk (HR 0.66, 95% CI 0.59-0.74/0.43, 0.30-0.61), APOE4 carriers/non-carriers (HR 0.71, 0.61-0.83/0.61, 0.52-0.71), females/males (HR 0.67, 0.58-0.77/0.63, 0.53-0.76). Compared with non-drinking, low-moderate drinking is associated with lower incident dementia risk, regardless of CVD risk, APOE4 gene, and sex. The protective effect of alcohol drinking was consistent among various drinking behaviors. Thus, this study confirmed the protective effect of low-moderate drinking in population, and provided insights for improving alcohol-related public health guidelines for dementia prevention.

Indexed as

Alcohol DrinkingDementiaApolipoprotein E4Cardiovascular DiseasesDrinking BehaviorFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHumansIncidenceMaleMiddle AgedProportional Hazards ModelsProspective StudiesProtective FactorsRisk FactorsSex FactorsApolipoprotein E4Alcohol drinkingAPOE4Cardiovascular disease riskDementiaDrinking behaviorsUK Biobank

Identifiers

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Registered trials

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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.