 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
|
| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Karen M. Jennison, PHD, Department of Sociology, Campus Box 142, University of Northern Colorado, 501 20th Street, Greeley, CO 80639, 970-351-2307, karen.jennison@unco.edu and Kenneth A. Johnson, PHD, Social Research Associates, P.O Box 2102, Greeley, CO 80631.
Older persons carry a high risk of memory decline with age that is increased with the adverse effects of heavy alcohol use. However, data on the long-term effects of alcohol intake on cognitive functioning are conflicting. This research examined the relationship between alcohol consumption and the onset of cognitive impairment over an 8-year period using longitudinal data from the 1992 and 2000 waves of the Health and Retirement Study. The two hypotheses tested for an association of drinking in the first wave with increased prevalence of cognitive impairment in the fifth wave were problem drinking as identified by the CAGE, and the alcohol-causal threshold thesis (five or more drinks per day over extended time periods). Cognitive impairment was measured by a free recall test of immediate and delayed-memory developed by Established Populations for Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly with a cut-off score of 5, and by physician diagnosed memory-related disease. The results of logistic regression analysis, after adjusting for potential confounders, indicate that the CAGE was not as effective as the alcohol-causal threshold model in predicting impaired cognitive functioning over time. Heavy alcohol consumption among former smokers in good health was associated with a near tenfold increased probability of severe cognitive impairment in older males (OR= 9.15; 95% CI= 4.76-16.9) as well as substantially increased rates of memory-related disease (OR=14.6; CI=14.2-15.7). These findings suggest that consideration of additional smoking-related variables in prospective studies may provide a more comprehensive understanding of alcohol’s effects on older cognitively impaired adults.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Alcohol Use, Aging
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.