Association between alcohol intake and subjective cognitive complaints in southwest Nigeria: a cross-sectional observational study

Peer review under responsibility of Alexandria University Faculty of Medicine.

Available online 14 August 2017

Figures & data

Table 1 Characteristics of the study population.

	Quintile 1	Quintile 2	Quintile 3	Quintile 4	P value
(a)
Men
Alcohol intake, gday^−1	0.0	0.8	1.6	7.7	<0.001
Median [IQR]	[0.0–0.0]	[0.7–0.8]	[1.3–1.8]	[3.3–10.2]
Cognitive failures^¶ (SCCs), mean ± SD	40.3 ± 18.1	38.7 ± 19.3	40.1 ± 19.4	50.5 ± 16.4	<0.001
Age, mean ± SD, y	32.9 ± 12.4	30.0 ± 9.8	35.3 ± 12.3	34.9 ± 11.2	0.05
Education, %					0.04
No formal education	0.5	4.3	0.0	0.0
Primary	2.3	6.4	7.7	3.7
Secondary	16.0	12.8	8.8	15.6
Tertiary-College	27.4	36.2	29.7	24.8
Tertiary-University	53.9	40.4	53.9	56.0
Ethnicity, %
Yoruba	82.0	80.0	68.1	66.4	0.04
Hausa	4.1	2.0	7.5	4.6
Ibo	12.2	12.0	18.1	22.7
Other	1.8	6.0	6.4	6.4
Marital status, %					0.04
Married	52.5	36.0	54.2	54.1
Single	45.6	54.0	40.6	38.5
Divorced	0.5	2.0	3.1	3.7
Separated	0.5	6.0	0.0	2.8
Widow(er)	0.9	2.0	2.1	0.9
Smoking, %
Never	81.3	75.0	55.4	60.0	<0.001
Former	11.6	14.6	25.0	15.5
Current	7.1	10.4	19.6	24.6
Body mass index mean ± SD	25.8 ± 5.0	25.2 ± 3.2	26.3 ± 5.2	27.9 ± 4.6	<0.001
History, %
Depression	10.9	10.4	5.4	8.9	0.49
Diabetes mellitus	6.5	6.3	14.0	8.0	0.17
Hypertension	8.5	6.3	10.9	6.2	0.63
Hypercholesterolemia	0.5	4.2	1.1	0.0	0.06
Cardiovascular disease	1.9	0.0	4.3	3.5	0.37
Insomnia	5.2	2.1	3.2	5.3	0.70
Stress	33.6	50.0	33.0	26.8	0.04
Physical activity, MET-h/wk	3.5	4.0	3.5	2.5	0.44
Median [IQR]	[1.8–12.8]	[1.8–13.1]	[1.8–14.0]	[1.8–9.9]
(b)
Women
Alcohol intake, gday^−1	0.0	0.8	1.6	6.4	<0.001
Median [IQR]	[0.0–0.0]	[0.7–0.8]	[1.5–2.1]	[3.8–10.7]
Cognitive failures^¶ (SCCs), mean ± SD	39.4 ± 17.9	41.6 ± 18.1	43.2 ± 18.1	43.3 ± 18.0	0.04
Age, mean ± SD, y	31.7 ± 10.7	29.9 ± 9.8	30.5 ± 9.8	29.9 ± 9.2	0.32
Education, %					0.08
No formal education	1.7	0.0	2.9	0.0
Primary	4.0	1.0	5.1	6.3
Secondary	15.2	14.1	11.7	12.6
Tertiary-College	33.8	31.3	27.7	42.5
Tertiary-University	45.3	53.5	52.6	38.6
Ethnicity, %
Yoruba	81.2	84.0	76.9	73.8	0.23
Hausa	2.4	1.0	5.2	7.1
Ibo	13.5	13.0	13.4	15.9
Other	2.9	2.0	4.5	3.2
Marital status, %					0.002
Married	52.7	36.9	50.7	48.4
Single	42.0	56.3	44.9	43.0
Divorced	1.5	1.9	1.9	2.9
Separated	0.7	1.9	0.0	6.3
Widow(er)	3.2	2.9	2.9	0.8
Smoking, %
Never	91.2	88.2	84.9	84.6	0.16
Former	4.5	6.9	10.1	10.8
Current	4.2	4.9	5.0	4.6
Body mass index mean ± SD	25.8 ± 4.2	26.2 ± 4.5	25.8 ± 4.1	26.3 ± 4.7	0.79
History, %
Depression	8.3	11.2	9.6	10.1	0.80
Diabetes mellitus	8.5	6.1	7.4	3.1	0.21
Hypertension	6.5	14.3	6.7	7.7	0.08
Hypercholesterolemia	1.5	0.0	1.5	3.1	0.32
Cardiovascular disease	2.5	1.0	1.5	3.2	0.65
Insomnia	5.0	7.2	6.8	6.9	0.73
Stress	35.0	40.0	28.6	32.8	0.31
Physical activity, MET-h/wk	3.0	3.5	3.0	4.2	0.20
Median [IQR]	[0.8–9.0]	[1.8–17.1]	[1.8–10.1]	[1.8–10.5]

Notes: MET-h/wk, metabolic equivalent task-hours per week. Data are expressed as No. (%), as means ± SD, standard deviation or as median [IQR, interquartile range]. Bold characters indicate significant values.

¶ Cognitive failures depict subjective cognitive complaints (SCCs).

Table 2 Estimated ORs of subjective cognitive complaints according to quintile of alcohol intake.

	Quintile 1	Quintile 2	Quintile 3	Quintile 4	P Value^†
All participants
Model
Crude	1.00	0.86 (0.56–1.33)	1.27 (0.91–1.79)	2.20 (1.60–3.02)	<0.001
Basic adjusted^ⱡ	1.00	0.87 (0.55–1.37)	1.17 (0.81–1.67)	1.95 (1.39–2.74)	<0.001
Multivariable adjusted^¥	1.00	0.76 (0.46–1.27)	1.08 (0.73–1.61)	2.02 (1.40–2.93)	<0.001
Men
Model
Crude	1.00	0.67 (0.32–1.42)	0.90 (0.52–1.55)	2.29 (1.43–3.68)	<0.001
Basic adjusted^ⱡ	1.00	0.60 (0.25–1.43)	0.67 (0.36–1.26)	2.28 (1.34–3.88)	<0.001
Multivariable adjusted^¥	1.00	0.59 (0.22–1.54)	0.57 (0.28–1.15)	2.47 (1.37–4.47)	<0.001
Women
Model
Crude	1.00	1.02 (0.60–1.74)	1.54 (0.99–2.39)	1.97 (1.27–3.04)	<0.001
Basic adjusted^ⱡ	1.00	1.00 (0.58–1.74)	1.57 (1.00–2.47)	1.64 (1.03–2.60)	0.05
Multivariable adjusted^¥	1.00	0.83 (0.44–1.54)	1.53 (0.92–2.53)	1.60 (0.94–2.69)	0.04

† P value for trend based on log-transformed alcohol intake.

ⱡ Adjusted for variables involving age, marital status, level of education, ethnicity, smoking status and physical activity.

¥ Adjusted additionally for variables involving body mass index, depression, hypercholesterolemia, cardiovascular diseases, insomnia, stress, and family histories of diabetes and hypertension.

Table 3 Estimated ORs of subjective cognitive complaints associated with a doubling in alcohol intake.^*

Model	All Participants	Men	Women
Crude	1.95 (1.33–2.87)	2.45 (1.34–4.50)	1.64 (0.98–2.74)
Basic adjusted^ⱡ	1.91 (1.26–2.90)	3.77 (1.85–7.71)	1.43 (0.82–2.50)
Multivariable adjusted^¥	2.10 (1.32–3.34)	4.11 (1.78–9.48)	1.61 (0.86–3.02)

* Effect estimates and P values were calculated using log-transformed alcohol level as a continuous variable.

ⱡ Adjusted for variables involving age, marital status, level of education, ethnicity, smoking status and physical activity.

¥ Adjusted additionally for variables involving body mass index, depression, hypercholesterolemia, cardiovascular diseases, insomnia, stress, and family histories of diabetes and hypertension.