Background@#
Alcohol consumption has been considered as a modifiable
risk factor for
dementia development and alcohol-related
brain damage may further impair cognitive
abilities in
dementia patients . This study aimed to find out the differences in
cognitive function according to current
alcohol drinking in
patients with
self -perceived
memory decline, including subjective
cognitive decline (SCD),
mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early
Alzheimer-type dementia (ATD) . @*
Methods @#From May 2018 to December 2019, retrospective chart
review was performed in
patients who visited CHA Bundang Medical Center for
cognitive decline . A two-way
analysis of variance with interaction test were used to analyze the impact of
alcohol consumption on
cognitive function between groups. @*Results@#A total of 147
patients was classified into three groups of SCD (n=30), MCI (n=53), and ATD (n=64), and each group was divided into two subgroups of alcohol users and alcohol non-users, according to the current status of
alcohol consumption . Between SCD, MCI and ATD groups, scores of clock drawing test and Go/No-go test were significantly lower in current alcohol users of ATD groups compared to the SCD and MCI groups (p<0.05). @*Conclusions@#These results suggest that current
alcohol consumption has detrimental effects especially on the frontal/
executive function in early ATD
patients . Considering the
association between frontal/
executive function and
ADL , our finding suggests that cessation of
alcohol intake may be a
therapeutic strategy to prevent
ADL deterioration in
patients with ATD.