Sarah Klemmer
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Jonathan Reader
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center / Medicine
Program:
Authors: Sarah Klemmer, Jonathan Reader
Session: Session 1: 9:00 am – 9:50 am
Poster: 75
Abstract
The global frequency of dementia has tripled since 1990 and is also expected to almost triple again by 2050. Therefore, understanding modifiable risk factors for dementia is critical. Anxiety, a common disorder, can cause cognitive impairment. Excessive alcohol consumption is associated with severe cognitive issues but appropriate alcohol use (AU) may help prevent cognitive decline and dementia (Mewton et al., 2023). However, the link between alcohol use and anxiety as a risk factor for dementia is understudied. Data in this study comes from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC). The data includes the first visit to an Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) for each subject (n = 13,621). The majority of subjects report being female (57.03%), white (78.5%), with at least 16 years of education (68.5%), and between the age of 30 and 59 (75.3%). Subjects self-reported their demographic characteristics (sex, race, education, age) and health history including history with dementia, anxiety, and AU. Participants were divided into three groups based on their AU mild (once/week or less), moderate (multiple drinks/week) and abstained (no AU in the past three months). We used a stepwise logistic regression to predict a clinical diagnosis of dementia from anxiety, AU, and demographic characteristics. Results from the final model of the stepwise logistic regression suggest that anxiety is highly associated with dementia such that higher anxiety predicts dementia and that alcohol use (both low-moderate and moderate-high are negatively associated. Results from earlier steps are displayed in Table 1. Limited research exists regarding the relationship between dementia and anxiety, with a noticeable lack of research focusing on the co-occurrence of anxiety and alcohol use within dementia. It was found that when occurring in the presence of anxiety, the protective factor of alcohol use is attenuated, and alcohol use worsens the likelihood of dementia onset. Some limitations of this study include a cross-sectional analysis. Longitudinal analyses should be used to fully explore the relationship between state anxiety, trait anxiety, AU, and changes in cognitive impairment.
