Lateralized cerebral dysfunction in early and late stage alcoholics

The neuroanatomical consequences of chronic alcohol ingestion were investigated using verbal and nonverbal neuropsychological measures known to be sensitive to the integrity of the left and right cerebral hemispheres, respectively. The performances of a group of 15 men alcoholics with a self-reported drinking history of less than 10 years and a group of 15 men alcoholics with a self-reported drinking history of 10 or more years were compared to that of a group of 15 men nonalcoholic controls. A multiple covariate analysis was done prior to analyzing group differences to determine what influence three covariates (age, education and socioeconomic status) had on the group performances. Some of the tests were significantly influenced by age or education and group differences were analyzed with adjustment for the appropriate covariate. Late stage alcoholics were significantly impaired in some tests of both right and left hemisphere functioning relative to controls. The performance of early stage alcoholics fell between that of controls and late stage alcoholics on most measures and differed significantly from either group on only one measure, where early stage alcoholics were superior to late stage alcoholics. Greater duration of alcoholism and higher average daily consumption were significantly related to decreased performance on some neuropsychological tests used.