Alcohol consumption and cognitive impairment in older men: a mendelian randomization study

Almeida, Osvaldo P.
Hankey, Graeme J.
Yeap, Bu B.
Golledge, Jonathan
Flicker, Leon

Open link

Publication date

January 2014

DOI

10.1212/WNL.0000000000000255

Publisher

Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether alcohol consumption is causally associated with cognitive impairment in older men as predicted by mendelian randomization. Methods: Retrospective analysis of a cohort study of 3,542 community-dwelling men aged 65 to 83 years followed for 6 years. Cognitive impairment was established by a Mini-Mental State Examination score of 23 or less. Participants provided detailed information about their use of alcohol during the preceding year and were classified as abstainers, occasional drinkers, and regular drinkers: mild (<15 drinks/wk), moderate (15-27 drinks/wk), heavy (28-34 drinks/wk), and abusers (35 drinks/wk). We genotyped the rs1229984 GA variant of the alcohol dehydrogenase 1B (ADH1B) gene, which is assoc...