"Excessive Drinking Increases Dementia Risk" ... Revealed by Large-Scale Study

Professor Jeon Geunhye's Research Team at Gumi Cha Hospital

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] A study has found that excessive drinking increases the risk of dementia.

Professor Jeon Geun-hye of the Department of Family Medicine at Gumi CHA Hospital, affiliated with CHA University, Professor Shin Dong-wook of the Department of Family Medicine at Samsung Seoul Hospital, and Professor Han Kyung-do of the Department of Information Statistics and Actuarial Science at Soongsil University, along with their research team, announced on the 20th that they confirmed this after analyzing 3.93 million men and women aged 40 and over who underwent health checkups twice in 2009 and 2011 through the National Health Insurance Service.

The researchers classified participants at the 2009 checkup into non-drinkers, mild drinkers (less than 15g per day), moderate drinkers (15?29.9g per day), and heavy drinkers (30g or more per day) based on daily alcohol consumption. They then evaluated dementia risk according to changes in drinking habits between 2009 and 2011, categorizing them as non-drinkers, abstainers, reducers, maintainers, and increasers. An alcohol amount of 15g corresponds to one can of beer (375ml) or one and a half shots of soju. The average follow-up period was 6.3 years, during which 100,282 participants developed dementia.

Analysis showed that maintaining mild to moderate drinking reduced the risk of dementia by 21% and 17%, respectively, compared to non-drinkers. Conversely, maintaining heavy drinking increased the risk of dementia by 8% compared to non-drinkers. Those who increased their drinking from non-drinking to moderate or higher levels had an increased risk of dementia, and similarly, those who increased from mild or moderate drinking to heavy drinking also showed increased risk.

Professor Jeon emphasized, "This large-scale study has proven that excessive drinking raises the risk of dementia," adding, "It is important to refrain from heavy drinking to prevent dementia." Professor Shin noted, "The slightly higher dementia risk observed in non-drinkers compared to mild and moderate drinkers in this study may be because people in poor health tend not to drink," and added, "Non-drinkers do not need to start drinking to reduce dementia risk, and especially avoiding heavy drinking is absolutely necessary for dementia prevention."

This study was recently published in the journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA Network Open (IF=13.353).

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