Results showed that at baseline, 4.3% of the participants binge drank (consumed at least four drinks on a single occasion) at least once monthly, and 2% did so at least twice monthly.
In multivariate analyses, the older adults binge drinking at least once monthly had 1.62-fold higher odds of being in the top 10% of cognitive decline, and those binge drinking at least twice monthly had 2.47-fold higher odds. Additionally, the latter had 2.49-fold higher odds of being in the top 10% of memory decline.
"The findings are fairly robust, and I think that the main implication is that older adults should be aware that heavy episodic drinking is associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline," Dr. Lang said. The J-shaped risk curve whereby moderate drinking is protective may well exist, but previous studies have overlooked the pattern of drinking that people engage in, he said.
He proposed that there may well be a big difference between consuming seven drinks on one occasion, versus a single drink a day for seven days – even though people are often simply asked how much they drink in a week.
"Older adults and their care providers and others should be aware that these drinking patterns are important," he said, adding that physicians who are concerned about their patients’ alcohol drinking "ought to be aware that it’s the pattern of drinking and not just the total amount that’s of consequence here."
Additionally, "I think it’s quite important that we don’t consider binge drinking simply to be a problem of younger adults, which is often what we see," maintained Dr. Lang. "A lot of the media attention and research attention is focused on adolescents, college students, and younger adults in whom binge drinking is more common. We need to be aware that binge drinking goes on and is a health problem in older adults as well."
Ms. Hoang disclosed no relevant conflicts of interest. Dr. Lang disclosed no relevant conflicts of interest.