[Neuropsychological functions in early and late onset alcoholism]

To compare late and early onset alcoholism with regard to neurocognitive functions.

Using the age of alcoholism onset as a criterion, 20 late onset and 14 early onset male alcoholics were included in the study. Eleven healthy male volunteers with similar demographic features were included as a control group. Alcohol and drug modules of Schedules for clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN) were administered to each subject in order to gather data on alcohol intake variables. The life time severity of drinking problems was assessed by the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST). All patients met the diagnostic criteria of ICD-10 for alcohol dependence. The neuropsychological battery consisted of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the Wechsler Memory Scale and Word Fluency Tests. The battery was administered to each patient 15 days after their entry into detoxification programme when the withdrawal syndrome ceased and all the psychotropic medications stopped for at least 1 week.

Compared with the control group, both groups of alcoholic patients displayed impairment in frontal lobe functions and memory. Neuropsychological test performance did not differ between early and late onset groups.

The results of this study suggest that subtypes of alcoholism based on a one-dimensional clinical application of Cloninger's typology are not associated with discriminatively different patterns of neuropsychological abnormalities.