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BMJ

Moderate alcohol consumption as risk factor for adverse brain outcomes and cognitive decline: longitudinal cohort study

Overview of attention for article published in British Medical Journal, June 2017
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  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • Among the highest-scoring outputs from this source (#37 of 64,806)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (99th percentile)

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Title
Moderate alcohol consumption as risk factor for adverse brain outcomes and cognitive decline: longitudinal cohort study
Published in
British Medical Journal, June 2017
DOI 10.1136/bmj.j2353
Pubmed ID
Authors

Anya Topiwala, Charlotte L Allan, Vyara Valkanova, Enikő Zsoldos, Nicola Filippini, Claire Sexton, Abda Mahmood, Peggy Fooks, Archana Singh-Manoux, Clare E Mackay, Mika Kivimäki, Klaus P Ebmeier

Abstract

Objectives To investigate whether moderate alcohol consumption has a favourable or adverse association or no association with brain structure and function.Design Observational cohort study with weekly alcohol intake and cognitive performance measured repeatedly over 30 years (1985-2015). Multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed at study endpoint (2012-15).Setting Community dwelling adults enrolled in the Whitehall II cohort based in the UK (the Whitehall II imaging substudy).Participants 550 men and women with mean age 43.0 (SD 5.4) at study baseline, none were "alcohol dependent" according to the CAGE screening questionnaire, and all safe to undergo MRI of the brain at follow-up. Twenty three were excluded because of incomplete or poor quality imaging data or gross structural abnormality (such as a brain cyst) or incomplete alcohol use, sociodemographic, health, or cognitive data.Main outcome measures Structural brain measures included hippocampal atrophy, grey matter density, and white matter microstructure. Functional measures included cognitive decline over the study and cross sectional cognitive performance at the time of scanning.Results Higher alcohol consumption over the 30 year follow-up was associated with increased odds of hippocampal atrophy in a dose dependent fashion. While those consuming over 30 units a week were at the highest risk compared with abstainers (odds ratio 5.8, 95% confidence interval 1.8 to 18.6; P≤0.001), even those drinking moderately (14-21 units/week) had three times the odds of right sided hippocampal atrophy (3.4, 1.4 to 8.1; P=0.007). There was no protective effect of light drinking (1-<7 units/week) over abstinence. Higher alcohol use was also associated with differences in corpus callosum microstructure and faster decline in lexical fluency. No association was found with cross sectional cognitive performance or longitudinal changes in semantic fluency or word recall.Conclusions Alcohol consumption, even at moderate levels, is associated with adverse brain outcomes including hippocampal atrophy. These results support the recent reduction in alcohol guidance in the UK and question the current limits recommended in the US.

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X Demographics

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 248 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 248 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 17 7%
Student > Bachelor 14 6%
Student > Master 8 3%
Student > Doctoral Student 5 2%
Researcher 5 2%
Other 11 4%
Unknown 188 76%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 17 7%
Psychology 10 4%
Neuroscience 10 4%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 5 2%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 3 1%
Other 10 4%
Unknown 193 78%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3819. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 05 March 2024.
All research outputs
#1,362
of 25,584,565 outputs
Outputs from British Medical Journal
#37
of 64,806 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#14
of 332,153 outputs
Outputs of similar age from British Medical Journal
#2
of 866 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,584,565 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 64,806 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 45.1. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 332,153 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 866 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.