Alcohol and Cognitive Function in Chinese Elderly: Heterogeneity in Different Domains

School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200025, China

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Abstract

Background: Cognitive decline has become an increasingly severe health issue in China. While alcohol’s neurotoxicity is documented, the interaction between drinking patterns, dietary-mediated metabolic pathways, and domain-specific cognitive health remains biologically complex. Our study leverages bioinformatics modeling to elucidate these associations. Methods: 13130 subjects from Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS, 2008 - 2018) older than 65 and without dementia were introduced in this study. A linear mixed effects model (LMM), was deployed to investigate the interaction between alcohol consumption, lifestyle-related metabolic factors and cognitive decline across five neurological domains. Results: Continuous alcohol consumption was also negatively associated with the performance in cognitive domain orientation, attention & calculation, and recall. Short-term alcohol users had a better performance in registration and language domain compared to the non-drinkers. A novel biomedical interaction was identified: subjects with high vegetable intake were more susceptible to alcohol-induced decline, potentially linked to the inhibition of Vitamin B12 absorption and metabolic homeostasis. Conclusion: This study provides computational evidence for domain-specific neurotoxicity of chronic alcohol use. The findings highlight the importance of considering biochemical synergies between diet and alcohol in clinical neuro-management, offering new insights for personalized nutrition and preventive biomedicine in elderly populations.