Alcohol Cessation in Late Life is Associated with Lower Risk of Cognitive Impairment among the Older Adults in China

Objective Evidence regarding alcohol consumption and cognitive impairment is controversial. Whether cessation of drinking alcohol by non-dependent drinkers alters the risk of cognitive impairment remains unknown. This study prospectively evaluated the potential association between the history of lifetime alcohol cessation and risk of cognitive impairment. Methods This study included 15,758 participants age 65 years or older, selected from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) that covered 23 provinces in China. Current alcohol use status, duration of alcohol cessation, and alcohol consumption before abstinence were self-reported by participants; cognitive function was evaluated using Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE). Cause specific hazard models and restricted cubic splines were applied to estimate the effect of alcohol use on cognitive impairment. Results Among the 15,758 participants, mean (+/- SD) age was 82.8 years (+/- 11.9 years), and 7,199 (45.7%) were males. During a mean of 3.9 years of follow-up, 3,404 cases were identified as cognitive impairment. Compared with current drinkers, alcohol cessation of five to nine years [adjusted HR, 0.79 (95% CI: 0.66-0.96)] and more than nine years [adjusted HR, 0.82 (95% CI: 0.69-0.98)] were associated with lower risk of cognitive impairment. Conclusion A longer duration of alcohol cessation was associated with a lower risk of cognitive impairment assessed by MMSE. Alcohol cessation is never late for older adults to prevent cognitive impairment.

Automated summary

Evidence on the association between alcohol consumption and cognitive impairment is inconclusive, with this study finding that longer alcohol cessation duration is linked to a lower risk of cognitive impairment as assessed by MMSE. For older adults, it is never too late to stop drinking to prevent cognitive decline.