Within-person associations between alcohol use and memory lapses among middle-aged and older adults

Alcohol use has been linked to impairment in both short- and long-term measures of objective memory. However, limited research has investigated the association between alcohol use and subjective memory in everyday life. The study purpose was to investigate within- and between-person associations between daily alcohol use and prospective (i.e., forgetting an intended task) and retrospective (i.e., forgetting something learned in the past) memory lapses among middle-aged and older adults.

Participants (n = 925; M_age  = 55.2) were non-abstaining adults from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study or the MIDUS Refresher who participated in an 8-day telephone diary asking about their daily experiences.

Multilevel models revealed that within-individuals, heavier-than-usual alcohol use (i.e., having more drinks than one's daily average number of drinks) was associated with greater odds of reporting any memory lapses (odds ratio [OR] 1.06; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01, 1.12), while associations at the between-person level were nonsignificant (OR 1.07; 95% CI 0.99, 1.16). When assessing retrospective and prospective lapses separately, alcohol use was only associated with prospective lapses and only at the between-person level (OR 1.10; 95% CI 1.01, 1.19). Finally, alcohol use was unassociated with reported irritation or interference from memory lapses (p > 0.05).

Heavier-than-usual alcohol use may have acute effects on daily memory functioning. Future studies should assess how alcohol use relates to an individual's ability to meet daily cognitive demands, as these findings may have critical implications for harm reduction efforts targeting daily functioning among older adults.