Alcohol intake and risk of dementia.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the association between intake of alcoholic beverages and risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia associated with stroke (DAS) in a cohort of elderly persons from New York City.


METHODS
Cohort study.


METHODS
The Washington Heights Inwood-Columbia Aging Project.


METHODS
Nine hundred eighty community-dwelling individuals aged 65 and older without dementia at baseline and with data on alcohol intake recruited between 1991 and 1996 and followed annually.


METHODS
Intake of alcohol was measured using a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire at baseline. Subjects were followed annually, and incident dementia was diagnosed using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, criteria and classified as AD or DAS.


RESULTS
After 4 years of follow-up, 260 individuals developed dementia (199 AD, 61 DAS). After adjusting for age, sex, apolipoprotein E (APOE)-epsilon 4 status, education, and other alcoholic beverages, only intake of up to three daily servings of wine was associated with a lower risk of AD (hazard ratio=0.55, 95% confidence interval=0.34-0.89). Intake of liquor, beer, and total alcohol was not associated with a lower risk of AD. Stratified analyses by the APOE-epsilon 4 allele revealed that the association between wine consumption and lower risk of AD was confined to individuals without the APOE-epsilon 4 allele.


CONCLUSIONS
Consumption of up to three servings of wine daily is associated with a lower risk of AD in elderly individuals without the APOE epsilon-4 allele.
Luchsinger
Jose A
JA
Taub Institute for Research of Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, and Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
Tang
Ming-Xin
MX
Siddiqui
Maliha
M
Shea
Steven
S
Mayeux
Richard
R
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D053327:Apolipoprotein E4; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics; D001515:Beer / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D004034:Diet Surveys; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009519:New York City / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population; D014920:Wine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
D053327:Apolipoprotein E4; D001057:Apolipoproteins E