Brain threat: A common habit can be a symptom of the onset of dementia

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People who start abusing alcohol at a later age – after 40 years old – may do so due to the development of a neurodegenerative disease. Previous studies have shown that this harmful and common habit, which accompanies a person throughout life, is a factor in dementia. Now experts have found a new connection between alcohol and the state of the brain.

Scientists analyzed the data of more than 1,500 patients with a clinical diagnosis of the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer's disease or the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia. Three factors were taken into account: the abuse of alcoholic beverages throughout life before the age of 40, the appearance of this harmful habit only after the age of 40 and older, as well as increased doses of alcohol in the first three years before and after the onset of dementia symptoms.

< As a result, experts found out that alcohol abuse can be a sign of the onset of dementia. It is noted that this habit is more common later in life in patients with frontotemporal dementia than in people with Alzheimer's disease.

“We found that alcohol abuse can be the first sign of an underlying neurological disease when this habit appears at a late age. In fact, up to 7% (almost 1 in 15) of patients with frontotemporal dementia started abusing alcohol late in life, and in 5% (1 in 20) it became the first symptom of the disease,” said Georges, MD, one of the authors of the study. Nassan.

Scientists believe that those who start abusing alcohol at an older age are first examined by psychiatrists and rehabilitation specialists, but the root of the problem may be brain damage. To slow down dementia, at the first signs of the development of a bad habit, a person should first be referred to a neurologist.