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Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access published online on September 26, 2005
Alcohol and Alcoholism, doi:10.1093/alcalc/agh203
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Medical Council on Alcohol. All rights reserved
Received November 30, 2004
Revised July 26, 2005
Accepted July 27, 2005

Article

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

SIMON J. C. DAVIES 1, SMITA A. PANDIT 1, ADRIAN FEENEY 1, BRIAN J. STEVENSON 1, ROBERT W. KERWIN 2, DAVID J. NUTT 1, E. JANE MARSHALL 3, STEPHEN BODDINGTON 4, and ANNE LINGFORD-HUGHES 1*

1 Psychopharmacology Unit, University of Bristol, Dorothy Hodgkin Building, Whitson Street, Bristol, BS1 3NY, UK
2 Section of Clinical Neuropharmacology, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, London, SE5 8AF, UK
3 National Addiction Centre, Box 48, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, UK
4 South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, Mental Health of Older Adults Directorate, Felix Post Unit, Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AZ, UK

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
ANNE LINGFORD-HUGHES, E-mail: anne.lingford-hughes{at}bristol.ac.uk


  Abstract

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.


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