Alcoholic Dementia Causes, Symptoms, Stages, and Treatment

Research has shown that severe thiamine deficiency disrupts several biochemicals that play key roles in carrying signals among brain cells and in storing and retrieving memories. These disruptions destroy brain cells and cause widespread microscopic bleeding and scar tissue. Researchers have identified several genetic variations that may increase susceptibility to Korsakoff syndrome. Because the chronic memory loss of Korsakoff syndrome often follows an episode of Wernicke encephalopathy, the chronic disorder is sometimes known as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. But Korsakoff syndrome can also develop in individuals who have not had a prior episode of Wernicke encephalopathy. Abstaining from alcohol is an important part of treatment for Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. Alcohol consumption can make symptoms worse and cause further damage to the brain.

Chronic alcohol use can result in a number of health problems, including a condition known as alcoholic dementia. This condition is similar to Alzheimer’s disease and can severely impact a person’s memory, cognition, and learning abilities. Individuals who use or are addicted to alcohol may need to seek treatment – such as through an inpatient program offered by Vertava Health – to avoid developing alcoholic dementia. Epidemiological studies show an association between long-term alcohol intoxication and dementia. Alcohol can damage the brain directly as a neurotoxin, or it can damage it indirectly by causing malnutrition, primarily a loss of thiamine . Alcohol use disorder is common in older persons, and alcohol-related dementia is under-diagnosed. Once acute symptoms improve, individuals should be carefully evaluated to determine if their medical history, alcohol use and pattern of memory problems may be consistent with Korsakoff syndrome.

Can Alcohol Cause Dementia?

Global burden of disease and injury and economic cost attributable to alcohol use and alcohol-use disorders. And nearly every review describes methodological problems of underlying studies, such as inconsistent measurement of alcohol use or dementia, https://ecosoberhouse.com/ or both, and insufficient control of potential confounders. But, at North Jersey Recovery, we design personalized treatment plans to give you the best chance of recovery. The best way to prevent alcohol-related dementia is to stop drinking alcohol.

This vitamin is vital to providing energy to brain and nerve cells. They may also require medications to help manage symptoms and conditions due to excessive alcohol use. A person may consider joining support groups or attending counseling or therapy if alcohol use is impairing their quality of life in the short and long term. Lewy body dementia is another progressive type of dementia that causes an accumulation of proteins called Lewy bodies in various brain areas. These areas are responsible for movement, emotions, behavior, memory, and cognition.

How Alcohol Is Linked to Memory Loss

For example, a standard drink in the United Kingdom contains a relatively low 8 grams of alcohol, compared with 10 grams in Australia, 14 grams in the US, and 19.75 grams in Japan . Many studies lacked a quality assessment for various outcomes, with many different operationalizations for cognitive functioning , and lacked standardization for the diagnoses of different types of dementia . There was inconsistent or no control for potential confounding variables, as different risk factors or confounding variables were measured across cohort studies . Furthermore, interactions between alcohol and other risk factors, particularly tobacco smoking, may also exist but these interactions were not assessed .

The researchers looked for known dementia risk factors, such as tobacco smoking, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, lower education and hearing loss. But they also looked for evidence of alcohol use disorders—identified as alcohol-related mental, behavioral or physical health conditions listed on patients’ hospital records. Reviews or meta-analyses were included if they described the systematic search process with listed databases and search terms. Narrative reviews without an explicit search strategy were excluded. In addition, included studies were restricted to systematic reviews that assessed the relationship between alcohol use and cognitive health, dementia, AD, vascular and other dementias, brain function, or memory.

Epidemiological Studies of Electronic Health Data

Signs and symptoms of alcoholic dementia and the conditions it may cause often come on gradually. This can make it difficult to determine if a person is experiencing these conditions until it’s too late.

Alcohol-related dementia often causes balance issues even when individuals are sober. They may fall over because alcohol damages the part of the brain that controls coordination and balance. Patients with ARD and WKS have shown cognitive improvement following treatment with memantine, although these findings require replication . Finally, these socially isolated patients are often hospitalized for another health condition and this presents an ideal opportunity for screening, identification, and intervention. The observational epidemiological studies underlying the reviews listed in Table 1 were limited because the majority of the studies were restricted to older populations . Owing to these limitations, two systematic reviews refrained from conducting meta-analyses because of the lack of exposure or outcome comparability across studies or both.

Design, Setting, and Participants

Though the benefits can vary widely from person to person, taking a month-long break from alcohol can alcoholism cause dementia can do your body good. This article takes a detailed look at red wine and its health effects.

Short-term effects of memory loss are most likely to occur when you’re intoxicated. You may have trouble remembering details of what you did while drinking. This can happen to social drinkers and people with alcohol addictions. This study explores the effects of alcohol use disorders on dementia onset in France. Alcohol use disorders are defined by the chronic harmful use of alcohol or alcohol dependence. The differing elements of drinking patterns as well as difficulties gaining an accurate self-report of past drinking have further complicated attempts to link drinking levels to later cognitive impairment. Estimates of past drinking habits of individuals diagnosed with ARD have included up to 60 years of drinking , although there is significant variability in length and severity of drinking .