Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access published online on September 24, 2008
Alcohol and Alcoholism, doi:10.1093/alcalc/agn078
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Combined Neuroimaging, Neurocognitive and Psychiatric Factors to Predict Alcohol Consumption Following Treatment for Alcohol Dependence
1 Department of Radiology, University of California
2 Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases, San Francisco VA Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA
* Corresponding author: Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Disease (114M), San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center, 4150 Clement St., San Francisco CA 94121, USA. Tel: +415-221-4810, Extn. 4157; Fax: +415-668-2864; E-mail: timothy.durazzo{at}ucsf.edu
Received 10 July 2008; first review notified 12 August 2008; in revised form 13 August 2008; accepted 1 September 2008
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Abstract |
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Aims: Resumption of hazardous drinking after treatment is common in alcohol use disorders (AUD). This study examined the ability of multimodality magnetic resonance, neurocognitive, psychiatric and demographic, to predict alcohol consumption after treatment for AUD. Methods: Seventy treatment-seeking participants completed 1.5T magnetic resonance studies, yielding regional gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) surrogate markers of neuronal integrity (N-acetylaspartate: NAA) and cell membrane turnover/synthesis (choline: Cho), assessment of major psychiatric disorders and comprehensive neurocognitive assessment after 
1 month of abstinence. Participants were followed up 6–12 months after treatment and classified as Abstainers (no alcohol consumption; n = 26) and Resumers (any alcohol consumption; n = 44). Abstainers and Resumers were contrasted on various outcome measures, and those that significantly differed between groups were entered as factors in a logistical regression model to predict drinking status at follow-up. Results: The following variables were independent predictors of resumption of drinking: temporal GM NAA, frontal WM NAA, frontal GM Cho, processing speed and comorbid unipolar mood disorder. With each standard deviation unit decrease in temporal GM NAA, frontal WM NAA, frontal GM Cho and processing speed, the odds of resumption of drinking were increased 3.1, 3.3, 6.4 and 14.2 times, respectively. Diagnosis of a unipolar mood disorder was associated with 14.5-fold increased odds of resumed drinking. Conclusions: The findings suggest that Resumers, relative to Abstainers, demonstrated greater abnormalities in anterior frontal-subcortical circuits involved in mood and behavioral regulation, and development and maintenance of alcohol use disorders, The magnetic resonance-derived variables used in this study may provide additional information regarding the prediction and neurobiological correlates of resumption of hazardous drinking.