Alcohol consumption and cognitive performance in a random sample of Australian soldiers who served in the Second World War.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between the average daily alcohol intake of older men in 1982 and cognitive performance and brain atrophy nine years later. SUBJECTS: Random sample of 209 Australian men living in the community who were veterans of the second world war. Their mean age in 1982 was 64.3 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: 18 standard neuropsychological tests measuring a range of intellectual functions. Cortical, sylvian, and vermian atrophy on computed tomography. RESULTS: Compared with Australian men of the same age in previous studies these men had sustained a high rate of alcohol consumption into old age. However, there was no significant correlation, linear or non-linear, between alcohol consumption in 1982 and results in any of the neuropsychological tests in 1991; neither was alcohol consumption associated with brain atrophy on computed tomography. CONCLUSION: No evidence was found that apparently persistent lifelong consumption of alcohol was related to the cognitive functioning of these men in old age.