Drinking problems tied to higher risk of early dementia

Alcohol use disorders were associated with three times the risk of dementia and twice the risk of early onset cases, the study found. About 5 percent of the dementia patients had so-called early onset dementia that started before age 65, and most of these cases were alcohol-related, the study found. Surprisingly, heavy drinkers who got sober didn’t have a lower dementia risk than their peers who remained problem drinkers,” Schwarzinger said by email . Overall, about 3 percent of the dementia cases were attributable to alcohol-related brain damage, and other alcohol use disorders were recorded in almost 5 percent of dementia cases. With early onset dementia cases the connection to alcohol appeared stronger.
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