Alcohol consumption and mortality in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease: a prospective cohort study

Disentangling the contributions of alcohol use disorder and alcohol-related liver disease towards dementia: A population-based cohort study

AIMS

The aim of the study was to disentangle the contributions of alcohol and alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) towards dementia by independently measuring the association between alcohol use disorder (AUD) alone and ALD with dementia.

DESIGN

This was a nation-wide cohort study.

SETTING

The study was conducted in Sweden from 1987 to 2020.

PARTICIPANTS

DELIVER (DEcoding the epidemiology of LIVER disease in Sweden) cohort, containing administrative codes on patients with chronic liver disease from the National Patient Register and other registers between 1987 and 2020.

MEASUREMENTS

International Classification of Disease 9th (ICD-9) and 10th (ICD-10) version codes were used to define the presence of AUD, ALD and dementia. The associations of AUD alone and ALD with incident dementia were estimated using Cox regression models adjusting for potential confounders. Cumulative incidences were also calculated accounting for competing risks of death.

FINDINGS

A total of 128 884 individuals with AUD alone, 17 754 with ALD and 2 479 049 controls were identified. During a median follow-up of 8.9 years, 13 395 (10.4%), 2187 (12.3%) and 138 925 (5.6%) dementia cases were identified in these groups, respectively. Dementia rates were increased in AUD alone [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 4.6, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 4.5-4.6] and in ALD (aHR = 8.6, 95% CI = 8.3-9.0) compared with controls. AUD alone was also associated with increased rates of vascular dementia (aHR = 2.3, 95% CI = 2.2-2.5) and Alzheimer's disease (aHR = 1.4, 95% CI = 1.3-1.4), while ALD was only associated with vascular dementia (aHR = 2.7, 95% CI = 2.3-3.2). The median age at dementia diagnosis was 67 years [interquartile range (IQR) = 56-76] in AUD alone and 63 years (IQR = 56-71) in ALD compared with 85 years (IQR = 79-89) in controls.

CONCLUSION

In Sweden, patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) appear to have increased rates of dementia and diagnosis at a younger age, compared with patients without AUD. Concurrent alcohol-related liver disease appears to increase the diagnosis rate and lower the median age further.

Alcohol dependence and risk of somatic diseases and mortality: a cohort study in 19 002 men and women attending alcohol treatment

AIMS

To (1) estimate sex-specific risks of a comprehensive spectrum of somatic diseases in alcohol-dependent individuals versus a control population, and in the same population to (2) estimate sex-specific risks of dying from the examined somatic diseases.

DESIGN

Register-based matched cohort study. Alcohol-dependent individuals were identified from the Copenhagen Alcohol Cohort. Controls were selected randomly from the Danish Civil Registration System. Information on somatic diseases was obtained from the Danish National Patient Registry and causes of death obtained from the Cause of Death Registry. Cox proportional hazards model was applied to estimate hazard ratios (HRs).

SETTING

Denmark.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 19 002 alcohol-dependent individuals and 186 767 controls.

MEASUREMENTS

Outcome variables included 11 disease groups and 29 subgroups, defined according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The main predictor variable was diagnosis of alcohol dependence according to ICD.

FINDINGS

Alcohol-dependent men and women compared with controls had statistically significantly higher risks of all disease groups and the majority of subgroups when analysed as disease events. HRs were elevated for well-established alcohol-related diseases but also for diseases such as dementia [men, HR = 2.0, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.6-2.3; women, HR = 2.4, 95% CI = 1.8-3.2], psoriasis (men, HR = 4.3, 95% CI = 3.5-5.2; women, HR = 5.4, 95% CI = 3.7-7.8) and breast cancer in men (HR = 3.3, 95% CI = 1.6-7.0). Similar results were found when disease groups and subgroups were analysed as causes of death.

CONCLUSIONS

Alcohol-dependent men and women have significantly higher risks of a comprehensive spectrum of somatic diseases, both as disease events and as causes of death, relative to individuals from the general population.