EFFECTS OF A HISTORY OF HEAVY ALCOHOL-CONSUMPTION ON ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

Citation
J. Rosen et al., EFFECTS OF A HISTORY OF HEAVY ALCOHOL-CONSUMPTION ON ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE, British Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 1993, pp. 358-363
Citations number
37
Categorie Soggetti
Psychiatry,Psychiatry
ISSN journal
00071250
Volume
163
Year of publication
1993
Pages
358 - 363
Database
ISI
SICI code
0007-1250(1993)163:<358:EOAHOH>2.0.ZU;2-6
Abstract
Neuropsychological and psychiatric evaluations were made of 39 subject s with possible Alzheimer's disease and a history of excessive alcohol consumption (AD + ETOH), who had been abstinent or had drunk minimall y for at least three months before evaluation, and 225 patients with p robable Alzheimer's disease (PAD) of comparable age, years of educatio n, and baseline global impairment. At baseline, there were no signific ant differences between the groups in terms of age of onset of dementi a, neuropsychological test scores, or current. behavioural or psychiat ric symptoms. One year later, no differences in rates of decline betwe en 20 abstinent AD + ETOH patients and 88 PAD subjects could be shown. Thus, past heavy alcohol consumption does not appear to modify the pr esentation of dementia of the Alzheimer's type, nor does it modify pro gression over a one-year interval.