Published Online
on December 4, 2003

A more recent version of this article appeared on January 1, 2004

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Submitted on July 31, 2003
Accepted on September 2, 2003

Alcohol Intake and Cerebral Abnormalities on Magnetic Resonance Imaging in a Community-Based Population of Middle-Aged Adults. The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study

Jingzhong Ding PhD^*; Marsha L. Eigenbrodt MD; Thomas H. Mosley Jr PhD; Richard G. Hutchinson MD; Aaron R. Folsom MD; Tamara B. Harris MD; and F. Javier Nieto MD, PhD

From the Department of Epidemiology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md (J.D.); Department of Epidemiology, University of Arkansas College of Public Health, Little Rock (M.L.E.); Department of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson (T.H.M., R.G.H.); Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (A.R.F.); Laboratory of Epidemiology, Demography, and Biometry, National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, Md (T.B.H., J.D.); and Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison (F.J.N.).

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jding{at}jhsph.edu.

Background and Purpose--Although the risks associated with heavy drinking for increased stroke and neurodegenerative changes are well established, the effects on the brain of low to moderate alcohol intake are unclear. Subclinical cerebral abnormalities identified on MRI have been associated with neurocognitive decline and incident stroke. We examined the associations of alcohol intake with MRI-defined cerebral abnormalities in a middle-aged, population-based cohort.

Methods--During 1993-1994, a total of 1909 middle-aged adults (40% men and 49% blacks) from 2 communities in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study (Forsyth County, North Carolina, and Jackson, Miss) underwent a cerebral MRI examination. Trained neuroradiologists coded the images for the presence of infarction and the extent (10-point scale) of white matter lesions, ventricular size, and sulcal size.

Results--In logistic regression analyses, there was no association between alcohol intake and the presence of MRI infarction. In linear regression analyses, alcohol intake was not associated with white matter grade. However, intake of each additional alcoholic drink per week was associated with a 0.01 grade greater ventricular size (P=0.03) and a 0.009 grade greater sulcal size (P=0.02) after adjustment for age, sex, race, body mass index, smoking, income, sports index, and diabetes. The positive associations of alcohol intake with ventricular and sulcal size were consistent across sex and race subgroups.

Conclusions--A protective effect of low to moderate alcohol intake on cerebral infarction was not found; moreover, increased alcohol intake was associated with brain atrophy.

Key words: alcohol drinking • atrophy • cerebral infarction • magnetic resonance imaging

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