Elsevier

Psychosomatics

Volume 58, Issue 4, July–August 2017, Pages 331-342
Psychosomatics

Review Article
Alcohol-Related Dementia: A Systemic Review of Epidemiological Studies

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psym.2017.02.012Get rights and content

Background

Alcohol-related dementia (ARD) is a heterogeneous long-term cognitive problem that can develop in the course of alcoholism. Current understanding of ARD remains limited.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review to synthesize available data on the epidemiology of ARD, through searching the relevant studies in the PubMed, PsycINFO, and ALOIS. “Alcohol” and “dementia” were used as keywords.

Results

We included articles published between January 1, 1991 and February 29, 2016, where language was not limited. Of the 9 identified articles, the prevalence of ARD ranged from 1.19/1000 in multiday admission patients residing in the United Kingdom to 25.6% in elderly clinic alcoholics from the United States. The proportion of ARD in early-onset dementia taken from 3 studies was approximately 10%, whereas only 1.28% in late-onset dementia taken from 1 study.

Conclusions

Considering the relatively high proportion of ARD in early-onset dementia and its potentially reversible course, future investigation into ARD is necessary.

Key words

Dementia
Alcohol
Cognition
Alcohol-related dementia
Health insurance research database

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