Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, Scotland.
Neuropsychology. 2011 Mar;25(2):166-75. doi: 10.1037/a0021571.
Moderate alcohol consumption has been associated with better cognitive performance in late adulthood, possibly by improving vascular health. Few studies have examined the potentially confounding roles of prior cognitive ability and social class in this relationship.
Participants were 922 healthy adults about 70 years old in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 study, for whom there are IQ data from age 11. Alcohol consumption was obtained by self-report questionnaire. Cognitive outcome measures included general cognitive ability, speed of information processing, memory, and verbal ability.
Moderate to substantial drinking (>2 units/day) was associated with better performance on cognitive tests than low-level drinking (≤2 units/day) or nondrinking in men and women. After adjusting for childhood IQ and adult social class, most of these associations were removed or substantially attenuated. After full adjustment, a small, positive association remained between overall alcohol intake and memory (women and men) and verbal ability (women only). Women's overall alcohol intake was derived almost exclusively from wine. In men, effects differed according to beverage type: wine and sherry-port consumption was associated with better verbal ability, but beer was associated with a poorer verbal ability and spirits intake was associated with better memory.
Prior intelligence and socioeconomic status influence both amount and type of alcohol intake and may partly explain the link between alcohol intake and improved cognitive performance at age 70. Alcohol consumption was found to make a small, independent contribution to memory performance and verbal ability, but these findings' clinical significance is uncertain.
适量饮酒与晚年认知表现较好有关，可能是通过改善血管健康。很少有研究检验在这种关系中先前认知能力和社会阶层的潜在混杂作用。
研究对象为洛锡安出生队列 1936 研究中的 922 名健康成年人，他们在 11 岁时就有智商数据。饮酒情况通过自我报告问卷获得。认知结果测量包括一般认知能力、信息处理速度、记忆力和语言能力。
与低水平饮酒（≤2 单位/天）或不饮酒相比，男性和女性适度至大量饮酒（>2 单位/天）与认知测试表现更好相关。在调整了儿童时期的智商和成年后的社会阶层后，这些关联中的大多数都消失或明显减弱。在充分调整后，总体饮酒量与记忆（女性和男性）和语言能力（仅女性）之间仍存在微小的正相关。女性的总饮酒量几乎完全来自于葡萄酒。在男性中，根据饮料类型，效果不同：饮用葡萄酒和雪利酒-波特酒与更好的语言能力相关，但饮用啤酒与较差的语言能力相关，饮用烈酒与更好的记忆力相关。
先前的智力和社会经济地位既影响饮酒量，也影响饮酒类型，可能部分解释了饮酒与 70 岁时认知表现改善之间的联系。发现饮酒对记忆力和语言能力表现有微小的独立贡献，但这些发现的临床意义不确定。
