Alcohol consumption and cognitive performance in a random sample of Australian soldiers who served in the Second World War.

Abstract

To examine the association between the average daily alcohol intake of older men in 1982 and cognitive performance and brain atrophy nine years later. Random sample of 209 Australian men living in the community who were veterans of the second world war. Their mean age in 1982 was 64.3 years. 18 standard neuropsychological tests measuring a range of intellectual functions. Cortical, sylvian, and vermian atrophy on computed tomography. Compared with Australian men of the same age in previous studies these men had sustained a high rate of alcohol consumption into old age. However, there was no significant correlation, linear or non-linear, between alcohol consumption in 1982 and results in any of the neuropsychological tests in 1991; neither was alcohol consumption associated with brain atrophy on computed tomography. No evidence was found that apparently persistent lifelong consumption of alcohol was related to the cognitive functioning of these men in old age.