Alcohol use has been identified as a risk factor for dementia and cognitive decline. However, some patterns of drinking have been associated ...SkiptomaincontentAdvertisementSearchallBMCarticlesSearchDownloadPDFReviewOpenAccessPublished:05January2019Alcoholuseanddementia:asystematicscopingreviewJürgenRehm ORCID:orcid.org/0000-0001-5665-03851,2,3,4,5,6,OmerS.M.Hasan1,2,SandraE.Black4,7,8,KevinD.Shield1,2&MichaëlSchwarzinger9 Alzheimer'sResearch&Therapyvolume 11,Article number: 1(2019)Citethisarticle12kAccesses34Citations73AltmetricMetricsdetailsAbstractBackgroundAlcoholusehasbeenidentifiedasariskfactorfordementiaandcognitivedecline.However,somepatternsofdrinkinghavebeenassociatedwithbeneficialeffects.MethodsandResultsToclarifytherelationshipbetweenalcoholuseanddementia,weconductedascopingreviewbasedonasystematicsearchofsystematicreviewspublishedfromJanuary2000toOctober2017byusingMedline,Embase,andPsycINFO.Overall,28systematicreviewswereidentified:20ontheassociationsbetweenthelevelofalcoholuseandtheincidenceofcognitiveimpairment/dementia,sixontheassociationsbetweendimensionsofalcoholuseandspecificbrainfunctions,andtwooninduceddementias.Althoughcausalitycouldnotbeestablished,lighttomoderatealcoholuseinmiddletolateadulthoodwasassociatedwithadecreasedriskofcognitiveimpairmentanddementia.Heavyalcoholusewasassociatedwithchangesinbrainstructures,cognitiveimpairments,andanincreasedriskofalltypesofdementia.ConclusionReducingheavyalcoholusemaybeaneffectivedementiapreventionstrategy.BackgroundDementiaisaclinicalsyndromecharacterizedbyaprogressivedeteriorationincognitiveabilityandthecapacityforindependentlivingandfunctioning[1].Dementiaaffectsmemory,thinking,behavior,andtheabilitytoperformeverydayactivities[2],andisaleadingcauseofdisabilityinolderindividuals[3].Globally,dementiaaffects5to7%ofpeople60 yearsofageorolder[4].Furthermore,thenumberofpeoplewithdementiagloballyisprojectedtonearlytriple,fromabout50millionin2015to130to150millionin2050[5,6]andthisisdueprimarilytotheepidemi