Effect of long-term drinking on cognitive impairment and brain atrophy of senior citizens and correlation analysis.

Objective To evaluate the effect of long-term drinking on the cognitive impairment and brain atrophy of senior citizens, and to discuss the correlation between cognitive impairment and brain atrophy. Methods Chinese version of Cambridge Cognitive Examination (CAMCOG-C) was applied to evaluate the cognitive functions of 56 senior citizens with long-term drinking (the study group) and the 58 matched healthy senior citizens (the control group). All the citizens were examined by brain CT. The correlation between cognitive impairment and brain atrophy were analyzed. Results The aggregate scores and scores of various sub-tests of the study group were obviously lower than in the control group (P0.05). The incidence of brain atrophy of the study group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P0.01). The incidence of cognitive dysfunction among people suffering from brain atrophy was significantly higher than that of people without brain atrophy. Conclusion People who have drunk a lot for a long term often suffer from significant cognitive impairment and brain structural abnormalities. And certain correlation exists between the cognitive impairment and brain structural abnormalities.