IS THERE COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT IN CLINICALLY ‘HEALTHY’ ABSTINENT ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE?

• Published in: Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford) Vol. 40; no. 6; pp. 498 - 503
• Main Authors: DAVIES, SIMON J. C., PANDIT, SMITA A., FEENEY, ADRIAN, STEVENSON, BRIAN J., KERWIN, ROBERT W., NUTT, DAVID J., MARSHALL, E. JANE, BODDINGTON, STEPHEN, LINGFORD-HUGHES, ANNE
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 01.11.2005; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Abstinence; Adult; Alcohol Amnestic Disorder - diagnosis; Alcohol Amnestic Disorder - psychology; Alcoholics; Alcoholism - psychology; Alcoholism - rehabilitation; Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning; Biological and medical sciences; Cognitive ability tests; Cognitive impairment; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Intelligence - drug effects; Intelligence quotient; Male; Medical sciences; Memory; Memory, Short-Term - drug effects; Mental Recall - drug effects; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests - statistics & numerical data; Orientation - drug effects; Problem Solving - drug effects; Psychometrics - statistics & numerical data; Psychomotor Performance - drug effects; Reference Values; Retention (Psychology) - drug effects; Temperance; Toxicology; Verbal Learning - drug effects; Wechsler Scales; Word Association Tests; Disintoxication; Poison withdrawal; Cognitive disorder; Alcoholism; Abstinence
• ISSN: 0735-0414; 1464-3502
• DOI: 10.1093/alcalc/agh203

Aims: The aim of this study was to determine neuropsychological performance in apparently cognitively, mentally, and physically healthy abstinent alcohol-dependent subjects compared with control subjects who were recruited for a number of different neuroimaging studies. Methods: All subjects completed a battery of neuropsychological tests as part of the neuroimaging protocol. Results: The group dependent on alcohol performed as well as controls on a non-verbal memory test and verbal fluency but performed worse in the verbal memory task, Trail A + B, and total IQ derived from Silverstein's short-form of the WAIS-R. However, the IQ performance of both groups was above average. In both groups, age was associated with slower performance on the Trail A + B task. In the alcohol-dependent group, severity of dependence and length of abstinence was not associated with performance of any task. Conclusions: In this apparently clinically healthy population of abstinent alcohol-dependent subjects, frontal lobe dysfunction was detectable using the Trail A + B and digit symbol tasks. This was despite above-average WAIS-R IQ scores. Consideration needs to be given to routine incorporation of cognitive testing in alcohol dependence since subtle deficits may not be easily apparent and may impact on treatment outcome.