Lifetime and recent alcohol consumption among male alcoholics. Neuropsychological implications

Alcoholics experience a relatively well-documented pattern of decline in cognitive and motor functions. This decline is likely the result of multiple causal factors that include head injury, malnutrition, and alcohol consumption. Although alcohol consumption per se has been considered a primary causal agent, research has not demonstrated a consistent relationship between levels of alcohol consumption and these neuropsychological deficits. This study explored such relationships within a sample of 40 detoxified male inpatient alcoholics who did not have a history of polydrug abuse, malnutrition, head injury, neurological disease, or non-alcohol-related psychiatric treatment. Increasing lifetime alcohol consumption was associated with increasing age-adjusted impairment on Halstead-Reitan tests that measure such aspects of functioning as concept formation, cognitive flexibility, and perceptual-motor abilities. Alcohol consumption had a linear relationship with test scores and hypothesized interactions with age did not emerge, nor did the effects of recent drinking appear dependent upon total lifetime consumption. The pattern of consumption (e.g., amount consumed per occasion, spree drinking) was also unrelated to impairment, and the critical neuropathological factor appeared to be the total amount of lifetime alcohol consumption.