The effects of wine and tobacco consumption on cognitive performance in the elderly: a longitudinal study of relative risk

Background Evidence relating to the potentially protective effect of smokin g and alcohol consumption in relation to senescent cognitive decline and Al zheimer's disease is inconclusive. Methods The relationship between wine and tobacco consumption and cognitive change was assessed within a longitudinal study of normal elderly people s howing recent instability in cognitive functioning using an extensive batte ry of cognitive tests. Results While moderate wine consumption was found to be associated with a f ourfold diminishing of the risk of Alzheimer's disease (OR = 0.26), as foun d in other studies, this effect was found to disappear when institutionaliz ation was taken into account. Wine consumption was associated with an incre ased risk of decline over lime in attention and in secondary memory. No pro tective effect for Alzheimer's disease was found for smoking, although smok ing was associated with a decreased risk for decline over time in attention al and visuospatial functioning. No clear combined effect of smoking and dr inking was found, even though smoking was found to increase the risk of dec line in language performance when adjusted on wine consumption. Conclusions There is no evidence to suggest that wine and tobacco consumpti on may protect against Alzheimer's disease.