Home › Research › Prevention and risk
Associations of alcohol drinking with incident dementia: a prospective study from the UK Biobank
Chen Y, Yin X, Wang X, Zheng X, Yang X, Zhou J, et al.. European Journal of Epidemiology, 2025-09-27
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Plain-language summary
Relationship between alcohol drinking and incident dementia remained uncertain. This study used UK Biobank cohort data to investigate the association between alcohol drinking and dementia risk, and potential effect modifications by cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, APOE4 gene, and sex. We excluded infrequent drinkers and participants with baseline dementia or dementia within two years of follow-up. Drinking status was defined as non-drinking, low-moderate and heavy drinking (by weekly alcohol units). Drinking behaviors included drinking with meals and drinking type. Primary outcome was all-cause dementia. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated by multivariable Cox regression models. Subgroup analyses stratified by CVD risk, APOE4 gene, and sex were conducted. Among 296,715 participants (mean age 56.54 years), 4,242 developed dementia over a median follow-up of 13.7 years. Compared to non-drinking, low-moderate drinking reduced dementia risk (HR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.59-0.73), while heavy drinking showed no significant association (HR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.75-1.02). All drinking behaviors lowered dementia risk. Low-moderate drinking reduced dementia risk across subgroups: high/low CVD risk (HR 0.66, 95% CI 0.59-0.74/0.43, 0.30-0.61), APOE4 carriers/non-carriers (HR 0.71, 0.61-0.83/0.61, 0.52-0.71), females/males (HR 0.67, 0.58-0.77/0.63, 0.53-0.76). Compared with non-drinking, low-moderate drinking is associated with lower incident dementia risk, regardless of CVD risk, APOE4 gene, and sex. The protective effect of alcohol drinking was consistent among various drinking behaviors. Thus, this study confirmed the protective effect of low-moderate drinking in population, and provided insights for improving alcohol-related public health guidelines for dementia prevention.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Chen, Y., Yin, X., Wang, X., Zheng, X., Yang, X., Zhou, J., et al. (2025). Associations of alcohol drinking with incident dementia: a prospective study from the UK Biobank. European Journal of Epidemiology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-025-01304-y
Vancouver
Chen Y, Yin X, Wang X, Zheng X, Yang X, Zhou J, et al. Associations of alcohol drinking with incident dementia: a prospective study from the UK Biobank. European Journal of Epidemiology. 2025. doi:10.1007/s10654-025-01304-y. PMID: 41014391.
BibTeX
@article{chen2025-41014391,
author = {Chen, Y. and Yin, X. and Wang, X. and Zheng, X. and Yang, X. and Zhou, J. and others},
title = {{Associations of alcohol drinking with incident dementia: a prospective study from the UK Biobank}},
journal = {European Journal of Epidemiology},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1007/s10654-025-01304-y},
pmid = {41014391},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-025-01304-y}
}
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
Key findings
- Compared to non-drinking, low-moderate drinking reduced dementia risk (HR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.59-0.73), while heavy drinking showed no significant association (HR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.75-1.02).
- Compared with non-drinking, low-moderate drinking is associated with lower incident dementia risk, regardless of CVD risk, APOE4 gene, and sex.
Why it matters
This UK Biobank cohort found that low-to-moderate drinking was linked to lower dementia risk, while heavy drinking showed no significant link. As an observational study, it cannot prove that alcohol prevents dementia.
New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Prevention →
Study details
- Study designcohort
- Participants296,715
- Effect sizeLow-moderate drinking HR 0.65 (95% CI 0.59-0.73) vs non-drinking
- Evidence strengthEarly
Limitations
Non-drinker reference group includes former drinkers and people who stopped because of poor health; Mendelian randomisation evidence in the same cohort finds no protective effect; graded 'early' for that reason.
How this study scored 52/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a cohort study following people over time. Scored zero for randomized / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on free to read, so that was left out: it earned 51 of the 98 points we could judge it on, which is 52 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (European Journal of Epidemiology) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | European Journal of Epidemiology: journal h-index 175 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 7 / 12 | A cohort study following people over time |
| Strength of evidence | 2 / 5 | Rated “early” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 4 / 5 | 2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 4 / 4 | 296,715 participants |
| Effect reported | 3 / 3 | Effect reported with a statistic (interval, p-value, ratio or similar) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomized / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 1 / 7 | Cited 4 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 1 / 5 | 1.3 citations a year over 3 year(s) since 2025 |
| Impact for its field and year | 2 / 6 | Cited 2.5× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 1 / 4 | Cited 4 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 2 / 4 | Last-listed author Yonghong Zhang: h-index 42 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 0 / 3 | Soochow University: institution h-index 635 (OpenAlex) |
| Multicenter collaboration | 0 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 1 institution(s) in 1 country — scores zero (affiliation lists can be incomplete) |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 41014391) |
| Free to read | — / 2 | Access not recorded — left out of this score |
| Points | 51 / 98 | Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 51 of the 98 points we could judge it on is 52 out of 100. |
| Total | 52 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
May need a subscription Unpaywall, Europe PMC and OpenAlex found no free copy of the full text (checked 10 Oct 2026), so the publisher may charge for it. The PubMed abstract is free.
Related
Studies in the library that share something with this one. The line above each title says what.
Studies this one cites
Referenced by this study and also in the alzhub library, so you can read them here.
Related studies in Prevention and risk from nearby years
Also tagged “incidence”
1,084 studies in the library carry the topic tag “incidence”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 1,084 tagged studies.