Quitting booze in middle age is dementia risk, says new study

Abstinence from alcohol in middle age has been linked to a heightened risk of dementia, a new study suggests.

Both people who drink over the recommended limits and those who are teetotal in midlife are at an increased risk, researchers found.

A new study, published in the British Medical Journal examined data on more than 9,000 people taking part in the Whitehall II study – which tracked the health of civil servants working in London.

The participants were aged between 35 and 55 when the study began in the mid 1980s.

Alcohol consumption was measured during assessments between 1985 and 1993, when the participants had an average age of 50. They were followed up for an average of 23 years, with cases of dementia identified through hospital records. A total of 397 cases of dementia were recorded.

Abstinence in midlife was associated with a 45% higher risk of dementia compared with people who consumed between one and 14 units of alcohol per week. Long-term abstainers and those who reported a decrease in alcohol use also appeared to have an increased risk.

Researchers suggested that part of the excess risk of dementia in abstainers could be attributable to the greater risk of cardiometabolic disease reported in this group.

Among excessive drinkers – those who consumed more than 14 units per week – experts found a heightened risk of dementia which increased the more a person drank. They noted that with every sevenunit/week increase there was a significant 17% increase in dementia risk.

“These results suggest that abstention and excessive alcohol consumption are associated with an increased risk of dementia, although the underlying mechanisms are likely to be different in the two groups,” the authors wrote.