Department of Gerontology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
Aging Ment Health. 2013;17(1):12-23. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2012.717254. Epub 2012 Aug 30.
This study examines cognitive outcomes for alcohol drinking status over time, across cognitive ability and age groups.
Data (1998-2005) from n = 571 Seattle Longitudinal Study participants aged 45+years (middle-aged: 45-64, young-old: 65-75, old-old: 75+) were analyzed to examine the alcohol drinking status effect (e.g., abstinent, moderate (less than seven drinks/week), at-risk (more than eight drinks/week)) on cognitive ability (e.g., memory, reasoning, spatial, verbal number, speed abilities).
Findings indicated that alcohol drinking status was associated with change in verbal ability, spatial ability, and perceptual speed. Decline in verbal ability was seen among alcohol abstainers and moderate alcohol consumers, but at-risk drinkers displayed relative stability. At-risk old-old adults and middle-aged adults (regardless of drinking status), displayed relative stability in spatial ability. Decline in spatial ability was however present among young-old adults across drinking status, and among abstaining and moderate drinking old-old adults. At-risk drinkers showed the most positive spatial ability trajectory. A gender effect in perceptual speed was detected, with women who abstained from drinking displaying the most decline in perceptual speed compared with women that regularly consumed alcohol, and men displaying decline in perceptual speed across drinking status.
In this study, consuming alcohol is indicative of cognitive stability. This conclusion should be considered cautiously, due to study bias created from survivor effects, analyzing two time points, health/medication change status, and overrepresentation of higher socioeconomic status and white populations in this study. Future research needs to design studies that can make concrete recommendations about the relationship between drinking status and cognition.
本研究考察了随时间推移，在认知能力和年龄组中，酒精摄入状况对认知结果的影响。
对 n = 571 名年龄在 45 岁及以上（中年：45-64 岁；年轻老年人：65-75 岁；老年人：75+岁）的西雅图纵向研究参与者的 1998-2005 年数据进行了分析，以考察酒精摄入状况（如不饮酒、适度饮酒（每周少于 7 杯）、高危饮酒（每周多于 8 杯））对认知能力（如记忆、推理、空间、言语数字、速度能力）的影响。
研究结果表明，酒精摄入状况与言语能力、空间能力和知觉速度的变化有关。在不饮酒和适度饮酒者中，言语能力下降，而高危饮酒者则保持相对稳定。高危老年和中年饮酒者（无论饮酒状况如何），空间能力保持相对稳定。然而，在各饮酒状况下的年轻老年人，以及在不饮酒和适度饮酒的老年人群中，空间能力下降。高危饮酒者表现出最积极的空间能力轨迹。在知觉速度方面检测到性别效应，与定期饮酒的女性相比，不饮酒的女性表现出知觉速度的最大下降，而男性在各饮酒状况下知觉速度都有所下降。
在这项研究中，饮酒表明认知稳定。由于幸存者效应、分析两个时间点、健康/用药变化状况以及本研究中高社会经济地位和白人群体的代表性过高造成的研究偏差，应谨慎得出这一结论。未来的研究需要设计能够对饮酒状况与认知之间的关系提出具体建议的研究。
