title: Impact of alcohol consumption in healthy adults: a magnetic resonance imaging investigation.
abstract: The impact of alcohol on brain morphology was studied in a large group of cognitively intact people whose consumption of alcohol was below the threshold for abuse. Participants were 367 healthy subjects, aged 18 years or older, who underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for reasons other than cognitive impairment. MRI analyses were carried out using SPM8 software on the MATLAB 7.9 platform. Gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volumes were normalized for intracranial volume. Participants were interviewed about their lifetime consumption of alcohol, nicotine and other available illicit substances. Direct WM and GM comparisons between alcohol users and non-users did not detect significant differences. Differences also did not emerge from multiple regression analyses or in the subgroup aged 65 or older. Based on this study's findings, we cannot infer a detrimental effect of alcohol on the brain of normal adults. These data may be considered to provide reference information for clinical studies.
authors.affiliation: Genneruxi Medical Center, Cagliari, Italy; IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio-Fatebenefratelli, via Pilastroni 4, 20125 Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Preti
authors.affiliation: IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio-Fatebenefratelli, via Pilastroni 4, 20125 Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Muscio
authors.affiliation: IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio-Fatebenefratelli, via Pilastroni 4, 20125 Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boccardi
authors.affiliation: IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio-Fatebenefratelli, via Pilastroni 4, 20125 Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lorenzi
authors.affiliation: IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio-Fatebenefratelli, via Pilastroni 4, 20125 Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: de Girolamo
authors.affiliation: IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio-Fatebenefratelli, via Pilastroni 4, 20125 Brescia, Italy. Electronic address: gfrisoni@fatebenefratelli.it.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Frisoni
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000473:pathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol
keywords: Alcohol consumption; Brain volumes; MRI; Voxel-based morphometry