Early Signs of Cognitive Decline Can Be Detected in Middle-aged and Older Adults with Problem Alcohol Use | Newswise

Newswise — Researchers have shown they can detect cognitive decline related to heavy alcohol use even before clinical dementia symptoms appear, according to a study published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research. The study’s findings support the idea that alcohol use disorder is a potentially modifiable risk factor for cognitive decline in middle-aged and older adults and highlight an opportunity to intervene before cognitive decline escalates.

The study adds to the considerable research linking alcohol use disorder to dementia, and specifically examines early cognitive decline, and whether alcohol use disorder is responsible for biological changes resulting in early signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, is thought to start about 20 years before clinical symptoms present, when, if identified, preventative treatment may be effective.

The study, conducted from 2019 to 2024, included 400 people, all of whom were born before 1974 and were part of a larger ongoing study of people with alcohol use disorder and their family members that had been ongoing since 1989. Participants completed tests of cognitive function used to diagnose dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and provided blood samples to be analyzed for specific proteins and molecules that lead to the formation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, which are hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.

Testing revealed significantly poorer cognitive scores among participants who had moderate to severe alcohol use disorder compared to those who did not, in both the under-65 and 65-and-older age groups. About two-thirds of participants in the under-65 age group who had moderate to severe alcohol use disorder scored below normal function on cognitive tests, compared to half of those without alcohol use disorder. Seventy-nine percent of the 65 and older age group with moderate to severe alcohol use disorder tested below normal function, 65 percent without alcohol use disorder.

Biological markers for Alzheimer’s disease were elevated in people with moderate and severe alcohol use disorder, but the difference was not considered statistically significant. The researchers speculate that alcohol use disorder may inhibit resilience to Alzheimer’s disease pathology and that these markers may be a valuable clinical tool for early identification of Alzheimer’s disease risk in people with alcohol use disorder and recommend further study into these hypotheses.

The relationship between alcohol use disorder, measures of cognitive decline, and Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers in middle-aged and older adults. L. A. Hayibor, A. Anokhin, S. L. Fisher, A. Goate, T. M. Foroud, S. E. Schindler, L. J. Bierut, S. M. Hartz. 

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