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Wine consumption and dementia in the elderly: a prospective community study in the Bordeaux area
Orgogozo JM, Dartigues JF, Lafont S, Letenneur L, Commenges D, Salamon R, Renaud S, Breteler MB.. Revue neurologique, 1997-04-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Alcoholism is a possible cause of dementia, mainly through associated nutritional deficiencies and, rarely, through acute direct toxicity. However alcohol consumption was not found to be a risk factor in previous epidemiologic studies. We prospectively studied 3,777 community residents aged 65 and over, in the districts of Gironde and Dordogne. Average daily alcoholic consumption was recorded at baseline. Incident cases of dementia and Alzheimer's disease were screened at follow-up with explicit criteria. At 3 years, 2,273 subjects not demented at baseline were still available for follow-up. Wine was the only alcoholic beverage reported by more than 95 p. 100 of regular drinkers. In the 318 subjects drinking 3 to 4 standard glasses per day (> 250 and up to 500 ml), categorized as moderate drinkers, the crude odds ratio (OR) was 0.18 for incident dementia (p < 0.01) and 0.25 for Alzheimer's disease (p < 0.03), as compared to the 971 non-drinkers. After adjusting for age, sex, education, occupation, baseline MMSE and other possible confounders, the ORs were respectively 0.19 (p < 0.01) and 0.28 (p < 0.05). In the 922 mild drinkers (< 1 to 2 glasses per day) there was a negative association only with AD, after adjustment (OR = 0.55; p < 0.05). The inverse relationship between moderate wine drinking and incident dementia was explained neither by known predictors of dementia nor by medical, psychological or socio-familial factors. Considering also the well documented negative associations between moderate wine consumption and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in this age group, it seems that there is no medical rationale to advise people over 65 to quit drinking wine moderately, as this habit carries no specific risk and may even be of some benefit for their health. Advising all elderly people to drink wine regularly for prevention of dementia would be however premature at this stage.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Orgogozo, J. M., Dartigues, J. F., Lafont, S., Letenneur, L., Commenges, D., Salamon, R., et al. (1997). Wine consumption and dementia in the elderly: a prospective community study in the Bordeaux area. Revue neurologique.
Vancouver
Orgogozo JM, Dartigues JF, Lafont S, Letenneur L, Commenges D, Salamon R, et al. Wine consumption and dementia in the elderly: a prospective community study in the Bordeaux area. Revue neurologique. 1997. PMID: 9296132.
BibTeX
@article{orgogozo1997-9296132,
author = {Orgogozo, J. M. and Dartigues, J. F. and Lafont, S. and Letenneur, L. and Commenges, D. and Salamon, R. and Renaud, S. and Breteler, M. B.},
title = {{Wine consumption and dementia in the elderly: a prospective community study in the Bordeaux area}},
journal = {Revue neurologique},
year = {1997},
pmid = {9296132}
}
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. This record has no DOI, so the citation leaves it out. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record names 8 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
Key findings
- In the 318 subjects drinking 3 to 4 standard glasses per day (> 250 and up to 500 ml), categorized as moderate drinkers, the crude odds ratio (OR) was 0.18 for incident dementia (p < 0.01) and 0.25 for Alzheimer's disease (p < 0.03), as compared to the 971 non-drinkers.
Why it matters
In this study, people who drank 3 to 4 glasses of wine a day had lower odds of developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease than non-drinkers, even after adjusting for other factors. However, this was an observational study, so it cannot prove that wine drinking itself prevents dementia.
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Study details
- Participants3,777
- Effect sizeOR = 0.55
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 53/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, so that was left out: it earned 51 of the 96 points we could judge it on, which is 53 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Revue neurologique) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 1997 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 3 / 4 | 3,777 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) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 6 / 7 | Cited 524 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 3 / 5 | 16.9 citations a year over 31 year(s) since 1997 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 14.8× 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 10 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Monique M.B. Breteler: h-index 162 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | Inserm: institution h-index 1,988 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 1 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 3 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 9296132) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 51 / 96 | Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 51 of the 96 points we could judge it on is 53 out of 100. |
| Total | 53 / 100 | — |
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