Association between Alcohol Intake and Domain-Specific Cognitive Function in Older Women

Abstract

Moderate levels of alcohol intake may be associated with better cognitive function; however, this relationship may vary between cognitive domains. Women, aged 65–80 years, enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) randomized clinical trials of hormone therapy, underwent annual standardized testing for global cognitive function through the ancillary WHI Memory Study (average follow-up of 4.5 years) and domain-specific cognitive function through the WHI Study of Cognitive Aging (average follow-up of 1.7 years). Compared to nondrinkers, women reporting moderate levels of alcohol intake (≤3 drinks per day) performed better on a measure of global cognitive function. Women reporting any alcohol intake also performed better on tests of verbal knowledge, verbal fluency, figural memory, verbal memory, attention and working memory, and motor speed (all p < 0.05), but not spatial ability (p = 0.36). After covariate adjustment, mean scores were higher among women reporting ≧1 drink/day by 5.7% for verbal knowledge (p < 0.001) and by 5.7% for phonemic fluency (p = 0.004), compared to never-drinkers. Moderate levels of alcohol intake are associated with somewhat better cognition, which may be expressed most strongly in functions related to verbal knowledge and phonemic fluency. However, our observational study cannot rule out confounding associations with unmeasured factors.