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Alcohol and cognition - consideration of age of initiation, usage patterns and gender: a brief review.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Bartley, PC; Rezvani, AH
Published in: Curr Drug Abuse Rev
June 2012

Heavy alcohol use has numerous negative impacts on cognition. In many cases, it appears that excess drinking influences working memory, problem solving, attention, patterns of regional brain activation, and even gray and white matter volume. Due to these effects, most significant conclusions related to cognitive decline are limited to the assumption that "more is worse." However, heavy alcohol use is a very complex psychosocial behavior and is subject to a problematic number of variables. As a result, it is very difficult to extend generalizations about drinking-related consequences to the overall population since many environmental and biological differences come into play for every individual. Three of these variables shown to have significant impact on cognitive sensitivity to alcohol are age of first alcohol use (age of drinking initiation), specific pattern of alcohol consumption and gender. Potential insight can be gained into how individual drinking scenarios differ in risk for cognitive decline by assessing how each of these important factors influences cognition independently. Although some overlap exists between categories, each still appears to contribute unique influence on likelihood and presentation of cognition-related effects. Based on existing and current research, age and gender tend to augment baseline sensitivity to alcohol, with patterns of alcohol intake also influencing how changes appear. Given these categorical differences, it is important to consider personal alcohol drinking history rather than just aggregate alcohol intake as risk factors in the cognitive impacts of drinking. The objective of this brief review is to examine the role of these factors on the effect of alcohol on cognition.

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Published In

Curr Drug Abuse Rev

DOI

EISSN

1874-4745

Publication Date

June 2012

Volume

5

Issue

2

Start / End Page

87 / 97

Location

United Arab Emirates

Related Subject Headings

  • Sex Characteristics
  • Humans
  • Cognition
  • Alcohol Drinking
  • Age Factors
  • 3214 Pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences
  • 3205 Medical biochemistry and metabolomics
  • 16 Studies in Human Society
 

Citation

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Bartley, P. C., & Rezvani, A. H. (2012). Alcohol and cognition - consideration of age of initiation, usage patterns and gender: a brief review. Curr Drug Abuse Rev, 5(2), 87–97. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874473711205020087
Bartley, Paige C., and Amir H. Rezvani. “Alcohol and cognition - consideration of age of initiation, usage patterns and gender: a brief review.Curr Drug Abuse Rev 5, no. 2 (June 2012): 87–97. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874473711205020087.
Bartley PC, Rezvani AH. Alcohol and cognition - consideration of age of initiation, usage patterns and gender: a brief review. Curr Drug Abuse Rev. 2012 Jun;5(2):87–97.
Bartley, Paige C., and Amir H. Rezvani. “Alcohol and cognition - consideration of age of initiation, usage patterns and gender: a brief review.Curr Drug Abuse Rev, vol. 5, no. 2, June 2012, pp. 87–97. Pubmed, doi:10.2174/1874473711205020087.
Bartley PC, Rezvani AH. Alcohol and cognition - consideration of age of initiation, usage patterns and gender: a brief review. Curr Drug Abuse Rev. 2012 Jun;5(2):87–97.

Published In

Curr Drug Abuse Rev

DOI

EISSN

1874-4745

Publication Date

June 2012

Volume

5

Issue

2

Start / End Page

87 / 97

Location

United Arab Emirates

Related Subject Headings

  • Sex Characteristics
  • Humans
  • Cognition
  • Alcohol Drinking
  • Age Factors
  • 3214 Pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences
  • 3205 Medical biochemistry and metabolomics
  • 16 Studies in Human Society